The Portsmouth Circumcision Register Reviewed / by Henry Roche

Posted by David on 26 November, 2008 - 16:49

 

Levy Isaac's Portsmouth Circumcision Register is a document of unique genealogical and historic importance.   It spans the years 1762-1807, predating by at least two generations the Portsmouth congregation's own vital registers, which do not begin until 1837.   Cecil Roth brought the Circumcision Register to public attention in his well known 1936 paper on the old Portsmouth community in TJHSE vol. XIII;  then fifteen years later, in TJHSE vol. XVII, Eugene Newman published his translation of the complete text, with a scholarly and informative accompanying article, and so in 1951 the Register became available for general study and research.

The Register itself is a small, almost pocket-sized notebook, bound in black leather or a similar material.   The entries cover 24 of its 38 pages, with the pages following the final entry left empty.  It is kept in Portsmouth Synagogue's archives.  I saw it on my earliest visits there in 1986, but had no urgent reason at that time to examine it in detail.   It then mysteriously disappeared, as mentioned in my 1994 article on Portsmouth sources in Shemot 2/1, and was in fact "lost" for some 18 years.  Very fortunately it was rediscovered by the synagogue officials in November 2004, and was examined on 5 Dec. 2004 at the synagogue by Richard Cooper and myself, Richard making a permanent digital photographic record of each page.  

I began in the late 1980's to compile the Portsmouth Jewish Index, on the twin foundations of Newman's translation of the Circumcision Register and my own study and analysis of the Portsmouth old Minute Book, which covers the years 1764-1840.   As the PJI developed, I started to notice that one or two details in the Newman transcription did not correspond quite as expected with similar names in the PJI.   So I am delighted to have at last been able to examine Levy Isaac's original Hebrew spelling of some of the more unusual or doubtful personal and topographical names, and to present here a detailed annotation of Newman's transcription.  

Levy Isaac's Hebrew name was Judah Leib ben Isaac, but he was known to all in the local Jewish community as Reb Leib Aleph.   He states at the head of the Register that he was born in Aub in "Frankenland" on 8th Shebat 5483 (14th January 1723, though  the "old style" English date was Jan. 3rd;  the Bavarian village of Aub lies some twenty miles SSE of Würzburg).   He lived in Portsmouth from 1762 until his death in January 1814;  he and his wife Boonley died within a few days of each other, and share a joint gravestone in the Portsmouth cemetery.   Some of his own relatives are found among the circumcision entries;  and his own son Joel, born c.1760, began to assist him as mohel from 1784 (entry no. 63).  

The Register contains 113 circumcisions;  Levy Isaac numbered all entries except the one between nos. 74 and 75 (which I number as 74a).  It is written entirely in Rabbinic Hebrew, but with an occasional Yiddish word or phrase.   The earlier pages are in a neat, almost minuscule hand;  then in 1784 the writing becomes larger and more irregular, with correspondingly fewer entries to the page.  (It may be worth noting that it is precisely at this point that his son Joel began to assist him.)   In this rougher handwriting of his later years is the date of his own birth which he added to the opening statement of his own name and birthplace, just as Newman points out in the second paragraph of his article.  But Newman's further statement, that the same change of hand is found within entries 19 and 21, must be incorrect:  it is clear from the handwriting that both these long and important entries were inscribed in full and with precision at the original time. 

The early entries of the Register tend to present a fairly full version of the father's Hebrew name, often adding a topographical name (toponym) indicating a town of origin.   But from about no. 21 (1767), as the congregation was entering its third decade and an increasing number of parents were actually Portsmouth-born, such toponyms are less commonly included, and in fact even the father's patronymic may well be omitted if the congregation at the time happened to have only one husband of that given name of child-producing age.  Thus, for example, no. 24 is consistently entered as plain "Benjamin Levi";  he is in fact Benjamin b. Simon Levi (Woolf SIMONS), and is to be distinguished from Benjamin (Wolf) b. Jacob Levi (Benjamin LEVI), who was some thirty years older (he was one of the founders of the congregation, and my own ancestor - he was father of no. 35, and is named in the register as the father-in-law of no. 21).   Similarly, no. 44 is entered simply as "Asher Lemla", being the only man of that name in the community;  only at his 5th and 6th entries (1789/1792) is he called "Asher Lemla b. Pinhas Isaac", and it seems no coincidence that in 1789 another Asher (b. Zvi, no. 77) first appears in the Portsmouth Minute Book.  

Levy Isaac also carefully notes whether the ceremony takes place in the old or new synagogue.   Both Roth and Newman provide invaluable insight into the famous 23-year "split" between the Old and New Congregations in Portsmouth, which lasted from February 1766 until the summer of 1789.   Levy Isaac was in Newman's words actually the "guiding spirit" behind the breakaway New Congregation.   A study of the membership of the two separate congregations can be of the greatest genealogical value, and has been particularly enlightening where two individuals with similar names have needed to be distinguished from each other.  There is no surviving minute book for the New Congregation - probably a contributory factor to the lack of supplementary information on a few of the fathers named in the Register. 

Newman on p.252 of his article seems to state that Levy Isaac circumcised most or even all the Jewish boys born in Portsmouth over the 45 years covered by the Register, with the sole exception of the period 1766-1773 (during which the Old Congregation employed a mohel from London).   This statement may well hold good for the years before 1784:  even though there is a marked preponderance of future New Congregation members among the pre-1766 entries, there is little evidence for any local male births other than those registered for either 1762-1766 or 1774-1783.   But from 1784, the year Joel began to assist his father, there are an increasing number of Portsmouth-born Jewish males whose births are not found in the Register, and it seems to me probable that Joel rapidly set up as mohel in his own right for the expanding local community.   If so, he may very well have performed circumcisions more frequently than his father from then on.  He continues nevertheless to be shown as assisting his father on some twenty occasions up to 1803, though only within the Portsmouth and Gosport area.   Levy's last outlying circumcision took place in Poole in 1790 (no. 76).

Newman at the end of his introductory article lists the towns outside Portsmouth where the circumcisions occasionally took place.   It should be pointed out that his inclusion of "circumcisions from Rochford" in this list is misleading - the brothers Philip and David Barnard from Rochford, who were the parents in question, were both resident in Portsmouth well before any of their children were born.

The following annotated list should ideally be studied in conjunction with Newman's full 1951 transcription.  It is arranged in the form of a complete list of the fathers' Hebrew names in the Register, in the numerical (chronological) order of the original.  If a father has more than one entry, I have incorporated all his given details into his first entry, appending all his entry-numbers in brackets ( ).  Each father's Hebrew name appears in bold type, and has wherever possible been expanded or completed from other sources, principally from the old Minute Book;  any such additions appear in italics.   In square [ ] brackets I have added the father's English name if known, with surname in capitals, and have indicated membership of the Old or New Congregation, with "M" if his name occurs also in the old Minute Book.  I have included the town where the ceremony took place if outside Portsmouth.   Occasionally (e.g. nos. 36, 54) if the father's surname is found registered as if part of his Hebrew name, I have omitted it in favour of his genuine Hebrew name;  the surname will of course be found added in the square brackets.  The dates, the babies' names and all other data in the Register have been omitted, to make this list as clear and simple as possible (mothers' names are never once mentioned, unfortunately the norm for such a register).   I have retained Newman's traditional English spelling of Hebrew names, e.g. Isaac, Solomon, etc., and also his near-invariable spelling "Eleazar" (always אלעזר in the Register).  Similarly I have retained Newman's "tribal surnames" Levi and Cohen for the standard acronyms Segal (סגל) and Katz (כץ) of the original text. 

The list contains a few emendations of Newman's transcription;  these appear marked with an *asterisk.   Particular attention is drawn to the following entries:

No.6: The register gives Melrin, as also at no.95.  Did Newman have a reason to transcribe this as "Merlin"?

No.40: Judah from Hartheim (not "the Hard") - married to Levy Isaac's daughter Nandel, and a member of the Plymouth congregation.

No.50: Toponym is Bruck, not Marburg.  The baby is Samson, not Simeon.

No.82: Not Jobman but Chapman (טשאבמאן - Joseph's surname).

No.98: Newman translates Ari into "Lion" (as at no. 94), but neither version seems to correspond with any known person.

No.99: The true reading Ari for Newman's Uri had been long surmised by me, as the name Solomon b. Uri was unknown in Portsmouth.

No.104: Feis Aaron, not Aaron Feis.

COMPLETE LIST OF THE FATHERS' NAMES IN THE REGISTER

b. = ben (son of).

fr. = from (+ town, village or place of origin, as final part of Hebrew name).

OC / NC = Old Congregation / New Congregation (during the "split" period 1766-1789).

M = name appears in the congregation Minute Book (1764-1840).

[ - ] indicates that the English name is (as yet) unknown.

* indicates an emendation or adjustment of Newman's transcription (see note above).

Before the Split: 1762-1766  ("OC" and "NC" refer forward to the 1766 split)

1.      Israel Isserle b. Mordecai Moses fr. Erlang(en*), b-i-law of Leib Aleph (Levy ISAAC), (performed) in *Schwaben  [NC; M; Israel MORDECAI] (1, and probably 31, 39) 

2.      Judah b. Eleazar fr. Somerich (Z-) (*Sommerach), b-i-law of Leib Aleph   [NC; M; Judah LAZARUS] (2, 14)

3.      Eleazar b. Zvi fr. Ansbach  [buried in cemetery Elul 1764; probably Lazarus HART]

4.      Judah Leib b. Moses Levi fr. Wiesenfeld, b-i-law of Leib Aleph   [OC > NC; M; Levi MOSES (i)] (4, 9, 17, 25, 27, 32)

5.      Eleazar Lazi b. Moses fr. Fürth  [OC; M; Lazarus MOSES]

6.      Joseph b. Judah *Melrin (from Ellern, or Mölleren??), in Winchester  [NC; M; Joseph LEVI (-Y)] (6, 15; see also 68, 80, and 95, 99, 108)

7.      *Rabbi Isaac Standel (*Shtendel), teacher   [otherwise unknown]

8.      Judah Leib b. Zeeb Levi fr. Königsberg  [NC; M; - ] (8, 11)

9.      see 4

10.     Solomon  [otherwise unknown]

11.     see 8

12.     Moses Levi (probably Moses b. Mordecai Levi   [NC; M; Moses LEVI?] ) (mentioned also in no. 19)

First period of the Split: 1766-1773  (NC only, with the two exceptions 19 and 21)

13.     Reuben Zelig Jacob b. Naftali Cohen fr. Fulda  [NC; M; possibly JONAS] (13, 23, 29)

14.     see 2

15.     see 6 (in Winchester)

16.     Meir   [NC] (probably Meir b. Moses fr. Terkum (= Bad Dürkheim??) [NC; M; - ] ) 

17.     see 4

18.     Jacob, the Doctor, fr. Wetzlar  [NC; otherwise unknown]

19.     Samuel *Zanvil b. Menahem fr. *Sennfeld in Odenwald (in Moses Levi's house)   [OC; M; Samuel EMANUEL] (19, 49)

20.     Mordecai, silversmith, fr. Lublin  [NC; perhaps same as 56] 

21.     Israel Judah b. Moses Aaron Cohen, *alias Lima Cohen, s-i-law of Benjamin Wolf b. Jacob Levi   [OC; M; Levi MOSES (ii)] (21, 38)

22.     Naftali *Hirtz b. Jehiel (Ye-)  [NC; M; very probably Henry MICHAEL]

23.     see 13

24.     Benjamin Wolf Klinger b. Simon Levi, lately from Bath  [NC; M; Woolf SIMONS] (24, 37, 45, 51, 63)

25.     see 4

26.     Simeon (*Simon) b. Eleazar  [NC; Simon LAZARUS] (26, 34)

27.     see 4

Second period of the Split: 1774-1789  (compromise years, both NC and OC) 

28.     Akiba b. Samuel fr. Norwich (probably)  [OC; M; - ]

29.     see 13

30.     (Reb) Joseph, Reader of New Synagogue  [NC; otherwise unknown]

31.     Israel Isserle (-ah)  [NC] (31, 39; very probably same as no. 1)

32.     see 4

33.     Gabriel b. Judah Aaron fr. Michelbach  [OC; M; Gabriel NATHAN]

34.     see 26

35.     Jacob b. Benjamin (Wolf) Levi  [OC; M; Jacob LEVI] (35, 41, 71)

36.     Isaac b. *Zachariah fr. Bohemia  [OC; M; Isaac ZACHARIAH]

37.     see 24

38.     see 21 (in Cowes, IOW)

39.     see 31

40.     Judah *Yidla b. Moses Jacob fr. *Hartheim ("Hartum"), s-i-law of Leib Aleph   [NC; Judah MOSES of Plymouth]

41.     see 35

42.     Zvi b. Judah fr. Massbach  [NC; M; Henry LEVY (-I)] (42, 47, 61)

43.     Jehiel (Ye-) Michael b. Simhah  [OC; M; Michael JACOBS] (43, 74a)

44.     Asher Lemla b. Pinhas Isaac  [NC; M; Lemle DAVIDS] (44, 59, 66, 72, 75, 79)

45.     see 24

46.     Solomon b. Isaac fr. Erlangen  [OC; M; Solomon ISAAC(S)]

47.     see 42  

48.     Alexander Sender b. Shalom, Jeweller  [OC; M; - ] (48. 57)

49.     see 19

50.  Zvi Hirsh b. Abraham Samson (Shimshon) fr. *Bruck  [OC; M; Henry SIMPSON] (N.B. The baby is *Samson) 

51.     see 24

52.     Jonathan b. Reuben Cohen, in [and of] Gosport  [NC; M; possibly JONAS (see 13)]

53.     Samuel b. Mordecai Levi  [NC; M; Samuel MORDECAI (joined OC in Sept. 1782)]

54.     Isaac b. Elhanan fr. Raubach (Raibach?)  [OC; M; Isaac ELKIN]

55.     Baruch b. Moses fr. N-sh (Neustadt?)  [OC; M; Barnett MOSES]

56.     Mordecai b. Judah, in Southampton   [joined OC, perhaps from NC, in Sept. 1782; M; - (see no. 20)]

57.     see 48

58.     Reb Mordecai b. Isaiah Levi, Beadle of OC  [OC; M (scribe 1774-84); - ]

59.     see 44

60.     Jehiel (Ye-) Michael b. Mordecai Gumpel fr. Emden  [NC; M; Michael EMDEN]

61.     see 42

62.     Abraham b. Moses Plymouth  [OC; M; Abraham MOSES] (62, 88)

63.     see 24 

64.     Moses (Jacob?) b. Naftali Hirtz, Drucker  [OC; M; Moses HART] (64, also 84 and 90?)

65.     Joseph *alias David b. Meir fr. Ilfeld  [OC; M; prob. Joseph (or David) MYERS]

66.     see 44

67.     Pinhas b. Isaac Fürth, in Gosport  [OC; M; Phineas MOSES]

68.     Judah b. Joseph  [NC; M; Joseph LEVY (-I), son of no. 6] (68, 80)

69.     Menahem Ezriel "*Manis" b. Abraham, in Arundel  [NC; M; Israel ABRAHAM] (69, 74, 85)    

70.     Seligin (Ze-), in Brighton  [otherwise unknown]

71.     see 35 (twins were Walter Jacob and Isaac LEVI)

72.     see 44 

73.     Reb Samuel, in Poole  [Samuel ISAAC(S)]

74.     See 69 (in Arundel)

74a.See 43

75.     See 44

1790 onwards-the NC ceases to function, and the congregations unite

76.     Solomon (Eliakom Zalman) b. Ze'eb (Wolf) Levi, in Poole  [M; Solomon LEVY]

77.     Asher b. Zvi fr. Exeter  [ex-NC; M; Israel ISRAEL] (77, 78, 83)

78.     See 77

79.     See 44

80.     See 68

81.     Eleazar Libman (Lip-) b. Nathan fr. Hamburg  [M; Philip NATHAN]

82.     Asher b. Gabriel, s-in-law of Joseph b. Jekuthiel Kopman [Joseph *CHAPMAN]  [M; Asher NATHAN] (82, 87, 92, 107)

83.     See 77

84.     Moses (see 64)

85.     See 69

86.     Simhah b. Jacob Cohen, Watchmaker, b-in-law of Jehiel [i.e. Michael] b. Samuel [no. 100]   [M; Simon ABRAHAMS] (86,96)

87.     See 82

88.     See 62

89.     Pinhas *Zelig b. Jacob Rintel fr. Amsterdam  [ex-NC; M; Solomon JACOBS DE JONG] (v. prob. patronym and identification) (also no.111?)

90.     Moses Jacob (see 64)

91.     Abraham *Bordgis (בארדגיס, final "s" smudged) [conceivably = "Portugese"?]  [otherwise unknown]

92.     See 82

93.     Simhah Levi, "Doctor Lara" ((לץארה  [Dr. Benjamin LARA]  

94.     Aaron Israel (spelt as Hebrew name) [?b. Zvi Exeter = Arnold ISRAEL JOHNSON?] - (N.B. the baby is *Ari Judah)

95.     Solomon b. (Reb) Abraham *Ari, s-i-law of Judah b. Joseph (no.68)  [M; Charles LYONS] (95, 99, 108)

96.     See 86

97.     Uri Shraga Feis b. Solomon fr. Rochford Essex   [M; Philip BARNARD] (97, 109)   

98.     Asher *Ari   [ - ]            

99.     See 95

100. Michael b. Samuel *Zanvil, s-i-law of Leib Aleph  [M; Michael EMANUEL] (100, 106, 112; see also 86)

101. Abraham of Brighton (* "fr. Bright") (in Portsmouth)  [ - ]

102. Jacob b. Gabriel  [M; Jacob NATHAN]

103. David b. Solomon fr. Rochford Essex  [M; David BARNARD]

104. *Feis Aaron (spelt as Hebrew name, not as surname)  [nevertheless = Philip AARON?]

105. Eleazar *Zissel b. Simon   [M; Lewis LAZARUS, son of no. 26]

106. See 100

107. See 82

108. See 95

109. See 97

110. Eleazar b. Jacob Benjamin Zeeb Franklin fr. London  [M; Lewis FRANKLIN]

111. Pinhas *Zelig *Trobey (טרובץ) (likely same as no. 89)

112. See 100