Oppenheim Family

Most of the information on this family shown here comes from elsewhere such as: Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Judaica, and GENI. One of the earliest members of this family was Loeb Moses and the descent from him to Jonas Reis is outlined below:

Juda Loeb Zum Reisen Oppenheim == Sorle Cayn >> Moses Loeb Oppenheim, zum Schwert (ca. 1532 – 1626) == Hindlen Gumprecht ( ? – 1600) >> Loeb Moses Oppenheim ( ? – 1655) == Frumet Ballin / Balin ( – 1649) >> Simon Wolf Oppenheim (ca. 1600 – 1664) == Edel Bacharach (ca.? 1605 – 1668) >> Abraham Oppenheim (1633 – 1693) == Blume Wohl (ca. 1637 – 1683) >> Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664 – 1736) == Gnendel Behrens-Cohen (ca. 1670 – 1712) >> Sara Oppenheim[er] (ca. 1695 – 1713) == Chaim Jonah Frankel-Teomim >> Magdelene Genendel Frankel-Teomim (1713 – 1778) == Simon Isaac Bondi (1711 – 1773) >> Jonas Bondi (1732 – 1765) == Bella / Belle Schifra >> Clara / Caroline Bondi (1760-1829) == Koppel Loeb of Bamberg Moises Loeb / Moritz Reis (1782 – 1855) == Émilie Bickartt (1784 ) >> Jonas Reis (1809 – 1877) == Marian Samuel (1825 – 1900) >> REIS FAMILY.

We begin the Oppenheim or Oppenheimer family with Abraham Oppenheim, Zur Kanne, (1633 – 1693) who was the son of Simon Wolf and Edel Bacharach. He married Blume Wohl and they were the parents of the renowned Chief Rabbi of Prague David Abraham Oppenheim[er]. Abraham’s brother was the Court Administrator Samuel Oppenheimer.

Samuel Oppenheim[er] (born June 21, 1630 in Heidelberg and died May 3, 1703 in Vienna) was a moneylender, army supplier, court administrator, and diplomat.

He was the son of Simon Wolf Oppenheimer and Edel Bacharach. He married Sandela Sentille Carcassonne, daughter of the Manoach Carcassonne of Mannheim. He was the brother of Abraham Oppenheim and the uncle of Rabbi David Abraham Oppenheim. He is not a direct ancestor of Jonas Reis’ but rather his Nth great uncle, etc.

Oppenheimer’s loans, bearing interest of up to 20%, represented the largest item among Austria’s debts after the War of the Spanish Succession. They are said to have amounted to around six million guilders, most of which were refinanced through third parties.

Oppenheimer, as one of the most influential Jewish members of the Court of the House of Habsburg, greatly feared that the book Entdecktes Judenthum (Judaism Unmasked), would give additional strength to the prejudices already held against them. The book sought to expose the allegedly secret and nefarious practices of Jews, and it claimed that Judaism was a false religion that had been invented by the ancient Israelites in an attempt to deceive the world. Oppenheimer denounced it as a malicious libel, and tried to have the work banned. He failed, but subsequently his rival, the financier and rabbi Samson Wertheimer successfully petitioned Emperor Leopold I to have the book banned.

After Oppenheimer’s death, Austria got rid of the debts they owed Oppenheim by not repaying them and declaring the state bankrupt which plunged all investors connected with Oppenheimer as well as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange into a serious crisis.

As noted, Samuel Oppenheimer was the uncle of David Abraham Oppenheim, who was the direct ancestor of Moritz Reis.

MOSTLY FROM WIKIPEDIA:

David Abraham Oppenheim was an Austrian rabbi, cabalist, liturgist, mathematician, and bibliophile; born at Worms 1664; died at Prague Sept. 12, 1736. He was the nephew of the above Samuel. After studying at Metz under Gershon Oulif, Oppenheim married Genendel, the daughter of Leffmann Behrends (Liepmann Cohen), court agent of Hanover. Through associations thus formed, combined with an immense fortune bequeathed to him by his uncle, Samuel Oppenheim (above), court agent of Vienna, he became one of the leading Jews in Germany. In 1691 Oppenheim was appointed rabbi of Nikolsburg and chief rabbi of Moravia. In 1698 he accepted a call to the rabbinate of Brest-Litovsk, but continued to reside at Nikolsburg until 1702, when he became chief rabbi of Prague. In 1713 Oppenheim was appointed “Landesrabbiner” over one-half of Bohemia, and in 1718 over the whole of it. These nominations were confirmed by decrees of the emperors Leopold I., Joseph I., and Charles IV.

Oppenheim, concurrently with his rabbinical duties, engaged in business transactions on a large scale, which necessitated his frequent absence from Prague. About this time a controversy arose between him and Jonathan Eybeschütz, the rabbi of Prague. The latter, profiting by Oppenheim’s frequent absences, tried continually to win the favor of the Jews of the city. As Oppenheim was a distinguished cabalist, he welcomed Nehemiah Ḥayyun, the well-known Shabbethaian, whose erudition he admired, and gave him both moral and material aid. Moreover, when, later, Oppenheim was drawn by the other rabbis into the fight against Ḥayyun, he seemed to avoid any direct attack on the latter. In 1725 Oppenheim refused his signature to the excommunication of the Shabbethaians, probably because Eybeschütz was one of the signatories. Toward the end of his life he became blind.

Oppenheim was a prolific author, but of his works only the following have been published: “Mo’ed Dawid,” novellæ, a part of which was printed with the “Bet Yehudah” of Judah b. Nissim (Dessau, 1698); novellæ on “Sugya Arba’ Mittot” (Prague, 1725); several responsa printed in the collections “Shiyyure Keneset ha-Gedolah,” “Ḥawwot Ya’ir,” and others.

The best known of his unpublished works are “Meḳom Dawid,” a dictionary of all the places mentioned in the Talmud and of the events that occurred there; “Meẓudat Ẓiyyon,” collectanea; “Yad Dawid,” commentary on the Pentateuch; “Tefillah le-Dawid,” homilies; “Shelal Dawid,” containing homilies, novellæ, and responsa; “‘Ir Dawid,” collectanea and novellæ; “Nish’al Dawid,” responsa in the order of the four Ṭurim. He left besides a large number of writings, containing novellæ on the Talmud and commentaries on many cabalistic works. In 1713 Oppenheim composed two seliḥot on the occasion of the epidemic which ravaged Prague at that time. In his epitaph he is praised as a great mathematician.

Oppenheim is especially renowned for his famous Hebrew library, the foundation of which was a numerous collection left to him by his uncle, Samuel Oppenheim, in which were some valuable manuscripts. Oppenheim labored energetically to increase the library, and spared neither money nor time in purchasing rare and costly books.

In 1711 he compiled a list of books which he did not possess and made efforts to obtain them. Wolf (“Bibl. Hebr.” i. 290) estimated the number of works in Oppenheim’s possession at 7,000, including 1,000 manuscripts. Oppenheim was desirous to throw open his library for public use, but could not do so at Prague on account of the censorship; he therefore removed it to Hanover, where it was thrown open under the protection of his father-in-law, Leffmann Behrends, who, owing to his position, had great influence in that city.

After Oppenheim’s death in 1736, the library came into the possession of his son residing in Hanover, Joseph David Oppenheimer, a former Rabbi in Holleschau and now an Imperial Court Factor. Joseph sold the collection for 50,000 marks ($12,000). In 1829 the collection, which had been stored in chests at Hamburg, was bought by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for 9,000 thalers (about $6,435). It consists of cabalistic, theological, Talmudic, philosophical, mathematical, and medical works. Catalogues of it have been made by Tychsen (Hanover, 1764), Israel Bresslau (Hamburg, 1782), Isaac Metz, under the title “Ḳehillat Dawid” (ib. 1826), and Jacob Goldenthal (Leipsic, 1843). The best-arranged catalogue is the “Ḳehillat Dawid.” It contains 4,221 numbers, divided into four classes according to the sizes of the books, each class being subdivided into different branches, and each branch arranged in the alphabetical order of the titles. To the above-mentioned number of works must be added 1,200 bound with others. The manuscripts follow the printed books in each branch.

Below are some gravestones of earlier Oppenheimer family members and after these are some charts illustrating the various Oppenheim / Oppenheimer connections. We begin with Simon Wolf Oppenheimer who was the father of Abraham Oppenheim, Zur Kanne who appears above.