Bidspirit auction | Early Memorial Sermon Commemorating the

Early Memorial Sermon Commemorating the Jewish Soldiers Who Fell in the Austro-Prussian War. Prague, 1866 – Only Edition - Ehrentod der Braven (The Honorable Death of the Brave)—a memorial sermon commemorating the Jewish soldiers who fell in the Austro-Prussian War (also known as the Seven Weeks' War). Prague, 1866. Only edition. German. Extremely rare. ”The Honorable Death of the Brave. A Sermon Delivered at the Memorial Service for Soldiers of the Jewish Faith Who Fell in the Recent War, on November 11, 1866, in the Synagogue of Hořice, by Dr. Adolf Arntheil, Rabbi.” ”To all the brave warriors, the heroes who defied death and met their end in the faithful fulfillment of their duty, to all of them we dedicate this moment of remembrance...”. A rare publication printed only a few months after the conclusion of the Austro-Prussian War (summer 1866). The war ended in a crushing Austrian defeat, primarily as a result of the decisive Battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa), fought in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic)  recisely the region in which the communities discussed in the sermon, Hořice and Trautenau, were located. For the Jewish community of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the war represented a dramatic test of loyalty. This pamphlet documents the official memorial service held in the synagogue in Bohemia in honor of the fallen, commemorating the heavy price paid by Jewish families. The sermon contains a particularly powerful apologetic passage in which Rabbi Arntheil forcefully rejects the prejudice that Jews were cowards or unfit for military service. He proudly reminds his audience that the Jews of Bohemia had borne arms with loyalty and courage alongside their Christian compatriots, recalling earlier wars and battlefields in Italy and Schleswig stained with Jewish blood. He declares that the pure blood of the hundreds of Jewish soldiers who fell as patriots had completely washed away the ”stain of cowardice and disgrace” (Schmachflecken der Feigheit) attributed to them by prejudice, while drawing a direct connection between the modern Jewish soldier and the biblical history of the Jewish people as a nation of warriors.  The booklet is dedicated in print, ”with the highest esteem” (hochachtungsvoll gewidmet), by the author to J. U. Dr. H. Roth, attorney, community leader, distinguished patriot, Mayor of Trautenau, and recipient of the Order of the Iron Crown. Extremely rare. Only two copies are recorded in the WorldCat library catalog, at the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Leo Baeck Institute, New York. 12 pages. Light staining. Good condition.