Inscribed entirely on parchment, this captivating Code of the Bikur Cholim Society of Frankfurt encompasses 45 ordinances and signatures of over 270 prominent members of the 18th century Frankfurt Jewish community. This manuscript features the rare and sacred autograph of the saintly kabbalist and miracle-worker Rabbi Nosson Adler who was the prime mentor of the Chasam Sofer.
The extensive list of Jewish families whose names appear on this deed include many famous names that are synonymous with Frankfurt’s golden age, among them the families Oppenheim, Ansbach, Emmerich, Floersheim, Schiff, Trier Rothschild, Binga, Fulda, Scheier, Speyer, Schwab, Henna, Schwartzshield, Sonnes, Adler, Kahn, Schluss, Wallach, Ittingen, Schuster, Maz, Raff, Manheim and many others.
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The Frankfurt Jewish community prided itself on its precise order and efficiency, and distinguished itself with its cornerstone of mutual help and charity for those in need. The community established an extensive social services network to assist their fellow Jews, and one of the most noteworthy branches was the Bikur Cholim Society which cared for any Jewish patient who could not afford competent medical care. The community further extended Chevra Kaddisha services to a resident who could not afford the costs of burial and arranged learning and shemirah from the hour of death until burial.
This historic document offers a fascinating glimpse into the rich Jewish community life and culture that prevailed during the golden era of Jewish Frankfurt.
The Ordinances:
The Code encompasses 45 sections stipulating the rights and liabilities of the Society members in great detail. Every male and female member of the Society who paid a steady membership fee was entitled to receive medical care from the Society. The elected Gabbaim were responsible to supervise and ensure that the patients would be visited at home by a doctor who would determine whether or not it was necessary to admit the patient to the Society’s infirmary which had designated rooms for patients in need of full time care. The Gabbaim were likely liable to ensure that patients received all their meals and medicines regularly.
The Bikur Cholim Society employed two Jewish doctors who were both members of the Frankfurt Jewish community—Dr. Fes Rofeh and Dr. Rabbi Anschel Rofeh, (who authored Syag LaTorah, printed in Frankfurt am Main, 1766 – Note that even the doctors were Torah giants)—and was charged with providing medical care to all Society members (Sec. 31).
In the event that a Society member passed away, the Society took responsibility to arrange burial, a tombstone, a Ner Tamid, and learn and recite Kaddish in order to elevate his soul.
The Code further stipulated the membership fee collection policy, penalties meted out to Gabbaim who did not fulfill their duties faithfully, and election policy.
Rabbi Nosson Adler’s sacred autograph appears on Page 2, Column 2, Line 15. He was 18 years old when he signed this document
Rabbi Nosson Adler Katz (1742-1800) was renowned as a “man of G-d, holy and pious priest” (Shu”t Ksav Sofer Orach Chaim 48). He established his yeshiva in Frankfurt when he was 20 years old . He was a saintly kabbalist and miracle worker who was the prime mentor and illustrious teacher of the Chasam Sofer . In his eulogy upon his beloved spiritual master, the Chasam Sofer expressed that “he attained the pinnacle of chassidus and prishus…and there was no secret unrevealed to him, and all gates of Torah were open before him.” He further attests that a fire once tore through the city of Frankfurt, yet the conflagration did not approach Rabbi Nosson’s house (Drashos Chasam Sofer pps 371-373).
The Chasam Sofer’s son Rabbi Shimon Sofer once inscribed that Rabbi Nosson Adler was “an angel of Hashem”, yet his father rebuked him and said, “Why do you write that he is an angel of Hashem? No angel has ever attained his level! No angel has ever approached the level of my master (Hagahos Shaar Yosef ibid). The Baal Haflaah similarly expressed at Rabbi Nosson Adler’s funeral that “he was beyond human in his greatness” (Mishnas Rabbi Nosson).
“Frankfurt is a great city to G-d among all the cities in Europe, a beacon to which all turn.” (Rabbi Sheftel son of the Shl”a, preface to Vavey HaAmudim)
Description: Frankfurt am Main, 7 Adar, 5520 (1760). Written in Hebrew interspersed with Yiddish. Very large folded page with 3 handwritten sides. Size of each side: 62×34 cm. Condition: Minor stains and wear; several autographs faded or erased (some erased at the time that it was written, due to the passing of a member.) Preserved in a leather-bound antique case.
PROVENANCE: Sotheby’s, New York, Printed Books and Autograph Letters, February 25, 1976, lot 371.
