Raj Tamás: A nagyhalászi Hevra-könyv - A Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltár Kiadványai II. Közlemények 37. (Nyíregyháza, 2009)

On the commemorative page for Abraham Retek, who presumably worked as a publican, alongside the picture of his house and inn, a table spread with wine, challah and food is depicted under an oak tree, as well a Biblical Hebrew caption: "And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree" (Genesis, chapter 21, verse 33). It is conceivable that with all this, they wished to emphasise the character of this person as a charitable host welcoming guests. On Jacob Teichtahl's page, a sweep-pole well is seen, also with a Biblical quotation underneath: "because the flocks are watered from that well" (Genesis, chapter 29, verse 2). Here, however, we must not think that this is an indication of the employment of this person: with the title of "Chief Rabbi" and presumably highly educated in religion, this person could not have been a water carrier. It is more likely that this was an indication of how many had drawn from the well of Jacob Teichtahl's wealth of knowledge. The Nagyhalász Jewish community maintained close links with the particularly religious Jewry (also Hungarian and Yiddish speaking) living in what was then Sub-Carpathia (now Ruthenia, Ukraine). For instance, it turns out from our book that Rabbi Hayim (Herman?) Zucker, who was Chief Rabbi in Nagyhalász between 1905 and 1922, was afterwards elected as the spiritual leader, "the head of the Rabbinical Training School", of Beregszász community of faith, at that time very large in number and high in rank. As he departed from the community, we see the depiction of a boat sailing away on the Tisza on the page which bears his name. Habent sua fata libelli (Books have their own fate) - according to the Latin proverb. It is rather strange, but the survival of this holy association register - as a messenger of ruined Hungarian rustic Jewry - is due to the sad fact that in the summer of 1944, immediately before the deportation of the Nagyhalász Jews, the local actuary confiscated it together with all private and community Jewish property. The text, possibly incomplete in places, on the paper stuck to the cover of the book (front and back) bears witness to this: "Number 1222011944. Receiver 135. " "High Sheriff! Kemecde to number 1631/1944K.l" Following World War II, the Nagyhalász Hevrah book was acquired by the Nyíregyháza County Archives, where it still may be found today. Pages 37 and 38 of the section with drawings have been interchanged, and pages 53 and 58 have unfortunately disappeared. On the right hand side of the original cover, torn, well-worn and peeling, a depiction of the pair of stone tablets representing the Biblical Decalogue is still recognisable today, although the Hebrew inscription has unfortunately completely faded. Presumably, the title inscription with a Star of David, now found separately, was originally positioned on the left hand side of the cover (on the back). Even in this state, however, fragmentary as it is in places, the holy association register constitutes an important relic of the onetime Jewish population of the Nyír villages, fulfilling a significant role in Hungarian economic-cultural life, extraordinarily educated in religion, and liquidated under tragic circumstances. In transliterating the names, or the Hebrew and Yiddish texts, phonetic pronunciation and the Sephardi dialect have always been taken into account. The Hebrew letter "heth" is transliterated with simple h, the soft variant of the letter kaph with kh. The family names were transliterated into Hebrew in various ways in the register, but in spite of this we have preserved the variants in the Hebrew spelling (for example Seelenfreund, Selenfreund, Seelfreund, Seifreund, etc.). In the texts, the Hebrew and Yiddish languages also occur mixed together, but this is only mentioned if it is absolutely necessary. Translation was made even more difficult by the fact that the entries originate from different hands (sometimes legible only with difficulty), but at the same time this also indicates that the local, village Jews were highly cultured in the writing of Hebrew and Yiddish. TAMÁS RAJ