Sefer ha-zikaron (The Book of Memory)

I have written this down in connection with all that befell us during that year five thousand five hundred and sixty-nine [1809] here, in our holy community of Pressburg. Now an omen of this had already been vouchsafed to us by way of alarming dreams, in regard to which I was seized on several occasions with quaking and trembling, which agitated all my bones with fright, and sometimes this also occurred when I was awake—despite there being no such thing as magic, there is such a thing as “an omen.”¹ Although I knew that I was unworthy, I made haste to act stringently, pursuant to the words of R. Joseph—as the divine hand was still stretched out against us, I acted in accordance with whatever was within the realms of possibility for a lowly person such as myself.

As our vicissitudes were too numerous for time and space to allow us to place them all on record, I shall describe them in abridged form, but I shall, in any event, in passing, commit to writing everything that befell us.

[ . . . ] Now during that winter the cold was exceedingly great, and the waters of the River Danube had frozen, remaining in that state for several months, which was regarded as quite astonishing. And it so happened that on the morning of Sunday, the twelfth of Shevat, all of a sudden, the ice and the ice-floes vanished, and the waters flowed at a tranquil pace and not with fury, as they had previously, in accordance with their normal way in the aforesaid River Danube. But things had scarcely settled down, so as to enable us to rejoice in pleasant fashion, when the frosts arrived, like an overwhelming flood, from the city of Linz and the city of Vienna, together in one go, and with quite substantial fury, and blocked up the water exits; and the ice stood several palm-breadths in height, standing upright as a heap, and due to the overwhelming swiftness of the arrival of the awesome frost, the waters overflowed into the center of our city, on the opposite side of the city from here; it then changed course, proceeding onward and overflowing, up to the center of the city, to that place where delightful things are planted, which we call Allei; and likewise, through the streets of the city, passage was only possible by boats. And the flood damaged houses by the hundreds, rising higher and higher, and it also swept away the lives of many humans and animals. The greatest cause of damage was that the flood carried along with it many large boats, and bridges, and beams, from other locations, in that, when these made contact with the walls, their foundations were destroyed, and quite a number of storehouses and commercial wares suffered damage; the Jews too suffered losses in the thousands. The overriding point is, however, that it was on account of our great iniquities—of our sins—that “the hand of the Almighty was against us and against our ancestors”—which refers to the exhumation of the dead,² in that, as a result of the flood, the wall of the cemetery was destroyed, and tombstones were smashed, and in addition, the abodes of the most elevated and holy men, the place where the graves of the rabbis were situated—may their merit serve as a shield for us—over whose graves monuments had been erected, everything was destroyed, and the water overflowed and passed by them, in combination with the awesome ice, for many days.

[ . . . ] On the next day, the old man ascended to the roof of the attic and cried out in a bitter voice and with much weeping, to the point where his voice could be heard inside our city, and the inhabitants sensed that there was a Jew there in the midst of the troubles; and the chief members of the community, its leaders and fine men, dispatched a certain seaman and gave him fifty gold coins by way of remuneration for his trouble, and together with him they sent the esteemed Feivel, sexton of the burial society, to save the Jews, if that were possible. And they went over there in great peril and returned on the Tuesday toward evening, bringing with them no one other than a woman and her two sons, as the boat could not fit a larger number; and on the following day, they dispatched the seaman again and gave him thirty gold coins by way of remuneration, and this time they brought back the father too, on the Wednesday, the fifteenth of Shevat. We then heard that in the village of Ave, there was a Jew stuck on the roof of one of the houses who had not eaten bread for the past three days, and they sent to fetch him as well, and brought him, sick with tuberculosis by reason of the cold, and they occupied themselves with medical treatment for him until such time as the Almighty had healed him and restored him to his former state of health—praise be unto the most blessed God! May the Almighty remember for good the men of our holy community, for they have always been men of a kindly nature; and meanwhile, the seaman sailed over to the other side of the river to save the gentiles, the residents of the village mentioned above, and saved the majority of them, bringing them into the city in an impoverished and wretched state; and the Jews acted with kindness toward them and took them into their own homes and gave them to eat and to drink, as a result of which they gained a good name among the peoples and the princes. They also dispatched a boat filled with bread and all goodly things to the holy community of Kitza, although—praise be unto the most blessed God—they had not suffered harm to such a great extent—praise be unto the Almighty, Who performed such wondrous kindness among us amidst all this!

Almost immediately afterwards, the fair at Pest took place, and many of the residents of our city sailed over to the fair at Pest on a boat, along the River Danube, and they encountered a stormy wind and gale, which threatened to sink the boat, and the surplus ropes had already been torn away from the helm, and the sailors had abandoned hope. The boat was filled with great, fine, and distinguished individuals—their children too were with them, and the parents did not even turn their attention toward their children by reason of their great distress. They confessed their sins in a loud voice and prepared themselves for drowning—may the All-Merciful deliver us from such a fate!—but the Almighty saved them in a miraculous manner; however, I know this not from any written accounts, but rather, only from verbal reports, and I will therefore not elaborate further.

[ . . . ] On the New Moon of Sivan, the third month, the French army appeared on the other bank of the River Danube, and called upon the city to provide them with ferryboats to cross over to us, and threatened that if we did not do so, they would bring burning shafts with ballistic stones to attack us. The citizens, however, paid no heed to them, nor did they listen to what they said, and the enemies were treated by them with scornful laughter. But as regards myself, as my heart was well acquainted with the bitterness of my soul, I was extremely frightened and in a state of trembling, though indeed all the ordinary folk, and our own brethren, the Jews, laughed scornfully at them, declaring: “They will not cast a mound against it or come before it with shield,” and they considered me to be unjustifiably fearful in regard to the issue of defense. Now the French army remained standing at the ready on their watch, doing no harm for the time being, but on the holy Sabbath, the eve of Shavuot, in the morning, they proceeded onward, abandoning their positions—it was not known what had happened to them; and there was great rejoicing in the city and “You shall rejoice on your Festival” was fulfilled.³

Now during that period of time, I had an inner feeling of worry every day, and I summoned my dear friend, the great sage, the communal leader, the man in overall charge of the place, Mr. Moses Schreiber, and requested him to hand over to me some of the funds designated to a charity in respect of which all the members of the community participated, amounting to a total of five hundred and forty-one “entreaties,” corresponding to the numerical value of Israel, whereupon I would perform the ritual of “ransom for life” on behalf of the community, under the name Israel, pursuant to the “ransom for life” ritual proceeding recommended by Naḥmanides of blessed memory; and I told him in private not to disclose anything of this, and he acted accordingly. I then joined ten men of distinction to be together with me, most of whom were from my trustworthy students, who would not publicize the matter. This is the text of the prayer which we then recited—commencing with the letter yod, followed by sin, followed by resh, and then alef and lamed.

For the sake of the Unity of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Divine Presence, in fear and love, to unite the Name Y-H with V-H, I hereby donate these ten coins as agent for all of Israel, and in particular, for the local Jewish community of Pressburg, to unify righteousness with the righteous nation, as a ransom for the lives of all Your people, the House of Israel; and these coins shall be a ransom for the letter yod of the name Yisrael. May it be Your will, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, that these ten coins may serve as ransom for the lives of all Your people, the House of Israel, and in particular of the local Jewish community of Pressburg; and may the act of donation to charity bring peace, and the performance of charity bring about quietude and security henceforth and for ever. I implore You, O God, have pity; grant pardon, I beseech You, have mercy now upon Your entire nation, the Children of Israel, and deliver them from the sword and from captivity and from the confusion caused by the invading armies, and from all punishments that afflict the world, and from the collapse of siege walls and from conflagrations—“charity will save from death”—not only from an abnormal type of death, but from death itself: “If there be for him an angel, an intercessor, even one among a thousand, to vouch for man’s righteousness, then He is gracious unto him, and says: ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom!’” ⁴ “It is He Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your sicknesses, Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with favor and mercy, Who satiates you with goodness—may your youth be renewed like that of the eagle.” We then recited the verses comprising the priestly blessing: “May He bless you”—“May He make His face shine”—“May He lift up,” followed by the psalm “May He answer you”—and then the verse: “May the pleasantness,” continuing [with Psalm 91] up to: “With long life will I satisfy him”—then we recited the prayer Ana be-Koaḥ—then “A Song of Ascents” [Psalm 121]—and after that the requisite rituals for the letter sin, and then for the letter resh, etc.

[ . . . ] Within two or three hours, the land was at rest from war, and that night, the sleep of the entire city was indeed disturbed, but, praise be to God, nothing could be heard; only at daybreak were a few sounds heard, but they ceased, and we remained at ease on the eve of the holy Sabbath and on the Sabbath day until the time of the Afternoon Service.