«He received many pleas for help from Russian-Jewish refugees.»
Qeto Gotsiridze on the Basel Rabbi Dr. Arthur Cohn
Qeto Gotsiridze is a doctoral candidate in Jewish Studies in Heidelberg, her field of research is Yiddish literature. She recently inventoried a collection of 401 postcards to the famous Basel rabbi Dr. Arthur Cohn (1862–1926) for the Jewish Museum’s new permanent exhibition. Museum director Dr. Naomi Lubrich spoke to her about politics in the early 20th century and inner-Jewish tensions.
Naomi Lubrich: Qeto, when and where were these postcards written?
Qeto Gotsiridze: Most of the cards were written between 1904 and 1916, the majority are from Switzerland, in particular Lugano, Chur, Basel, Lausanne, St. Moritz, Aargau, Biel, Scuol, Vevey, Davos and Leysin. They’re written in German, French, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew – often, the languages are mixed, mostly in German, but with Hebrew and Cyrillic terms.
NL: Who wrote them?
QG: The authors are members of the Jewish community, rabbis and Jews from afar asking for advice. A considerable number are pleas for help written by Jewish refugees from the Russian Empire. Many Jews from Eastern Europe, having fled the pogroms, found themselves in Switzerland alone and destitute. One sender sought help looking for a Jewish deserter from Russia. Others are from students asking for help to fund their studies (1849.201/175/177/192). Their urgency is apparent just by the fact that they sent the cards by express mail. Cohn was good contact. He took part in the Comité du secours pour les Russes à Berne and supported those seeking help financially.
NL: What religious issues do the postcards deal with?
QG: Some senders have specific questions about kashrut, many ask about kosher shops and catering. One recurring question is whether a Zurich milk and cheese shop is reliably kosher. Many people wanted to know where to buy kosher meat, which was almost impossible at the time because of the ban on shechita.
NL: What do the postcards tell us about the tensions within the Jewish community?
QG: The postcards show considerable networking activity among the orthodox to oppose reformers. Together with Charles Nordmann, Tobias Lewenstein and Josef Messinger, Cohn supported the orthodox movement Agudas Jisroel, which was forming at this time. Tobias Lewenstein served as its president from 1919 to 1923. Lewenstein was chief rabbi in the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland. In 1912, he became chief rabbi of the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG) in Zurich, after it split from the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (ICZ) in 1898.
NL: Cohn was a spectator at the first Zionist Congress in 1897. In the 1910s, he became sceptical of the Zionist movement. What do you see in the postcards?
QG: The orthodox opposed the Zionists. The former wanted to preserve traditional religious values according to the Torah, while the Zionists were interested in political and secular issues. Rabbi Botschko in Montreux, seeing the successes of the Zionist congresses, called on the Aguda to also convene a world conference. Cohn, however, was not a hardliner, at least from what I see in the postcards. For example, he maintained links with organisations such as the Swiss Committee for Erez Yisroël. Besides orthodox Judaism, Cohn was a great supporter of education. He set up local youth groups, maintained contacts with teachers and promoted Jewish summer camps (1849.32/330). He helped students pay their living expenses (1849.256), even helped finance the rent of a student who was unable to pay for his room and board (1849.265). He was in close contact with the Zurich mathematician Leon Pasternak (1849.212).
NL: Dear Qeto, thank you for your insight.
verfasst am 11.03.2025
