Yudlov 612 Haggadah Krakow Krakau 1820

1820 Kraków Haggadah – The Haggadah of Jacob Weissmann, Teacher of the Last Cheder in Bieruń

One of the most rewarding aspects of collecting historic Haggadot is uncovering the lives of the people who once treasured them. This 1820 Kraków Haggadah bears the ink stamp of Jacob (Jakub) Weissmann, identified as “Kultusbeamter” (Jewish communal official) of Berun O.-S. (Berun, Upper Silesia), today the Polish town of Bieruń.

Research into the stamp revealed that Weissmann was a documented figure in the history of the Jewish community of Bieruń. According to the municipal historical study Z dziejów Żydów bieruńskich (“From the History of Bieruń’s Jews”) by Michał Jaworski, the town’s Jewish public school was dissolved in 1877, after which the community established a privately funded cheder to ensure that its children continued to receive instruction in Hebrew and Judaism. The study specifically records that Jakub Weissmann taught Hebrew and religion in this cheder, which remained active until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

The title Kultusbeamter reflects his broader role within the congregation. In small Jewish communities throughout Upper Silesia, a Kultusbeamter was often responsible for many aspects of communal religious life, serving not only as teacher but also as a trusted religious functionary and administrator.

What makes this provenance especially moving is the size of the community that Weissmann served. By 1910, only fifteen Jews remained in Bieruń itself, although the congregation still served approximately 157 Jews living in the surrounding villages. Despite their dwindling numbers, the community continued to support its own cheder and employ Weissmann to educate the next generation. Their determination to preserve Jewish learning, even as the community approached its final decades, is a remarkable testament to the enduring importance of Jewish education.

Although no additional biographical records for Jacob Weissmann have yet been located, the combination of his ownership stamp and the published historical record securely identifies him as one of the principal figures in the religious life of Bieruń at the turn of the twentieth century.

This Haggadah thus traces a remarkable journey. Printed in Kraków in 1820, it eventually found its way into the hands of the teacher entrusted with preserving Jewish tradition in one of Upper Silesia’s smallest and most resilient Jewish communities. Nearly two centuries later, the survival of both the Haggadah and Weissmann’s stamp offers a tangible link to the educational and spiritual life of a community that has long since disappeared.

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