The Jewish communities of Maramaros were early on attracted to Chassidism, especially to the Kosov & Vizhnitz sects headed by the Hager dynasty. Much of that has been credited to the influence of Mordechai Stern of Szelistye (c1730 – c1810) who was arguably the most influential Jew in Maramaros in the late 18th century. Chassidic tradition has it that Mordechai Stern was a follower of Rabbi Boruch of Kosow (c1720 – 1781) and used to pay him to come preach and lead the prayers in Szelistye.
Another early Chassidic master with ties to the Maramaros region was Rabbi Yakov Kopel of Kolomyia (died 1787). Rabbi Kopel’s son was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hager (1768-1825), the founder of the Kosov & Vizhnitz dynasties. A Chassidic tale says that Rabbi Kopel was promised by the Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem (founder of Chassidism, died 1760) that the Maramaros region will be lead by his descendants but I know of no record that Rabbi Koppel himself ever visited Maramaros.
While going through various censuses and tax lists for Maramaros I suddenly realized that a 1775 tax list for the town of Sziget listed a certain “Kopil Jankil Rabiner”. This is interesting since historians claim that from 1772 up until 1802 there was no officially appointed Rabbi in the town of Sziget (besides for a short period around 1796 when Rabbi Chaim Meir Traub, son-in-law of Mordechai Stern served as a Moreh Tzedek). I have perused the Sziget tax lists for 1774 and 1776 and there is no trace of “Rabiner Kopel” in those lists, nor is any Rabiner mentioned in them at all. So it seems that “Rabiner Kopel” only had a short stint in town for the year of 1775.
Here is the the Sziget portion of a 1775 tax list.
Here is another 1775 tax list for Sziget:
Its worth noting that the 19th century metrical records from Sziget show a movement of Jews from Kolomyia to Sziget in the early part of the 19’th century. I realize that his doesn’t prove anything about the 18’th century but since there are no Jewish metrical records from Maramoras in the 18’th century all we can look at are the 19’th century records. Here are some examples of Sziget Jews who came over from Kolomyia in the first decade of the 19th century: 1) Chaim Bergman (c1802-1859), 2) Bentzion Veisz (c1805-1887), 3) Shmiel Snabel (c1806-1891). There are quite afew more examples for people born in the 1810’s and 1820’s.
So could “Rabiner Kopel” in the 1775 tax list be Rabbi Kopel of Kolomyia? Leave your thoughts below….
