Baruch Strauss

Kreisvorsteher (representative of the community). "He was a very charitable man. He loaned money without interest to the poorer Jews of the region. Many impoverished people came to him for help. On one occasion, in a bad mood, he asked a Jew from Schweinsberg to leave without having given him any money. After a quarter of an hour, he regretted his actions and followed the man to shortly before Schweinsberg and gave him the money after all.

Then a poorJewish woman from Schweinsberg came to sell him cloth at a very low price so that she would have some money for her son to use for his emigration to America. Baruch declined the offer. The woman had originally paid 36 Taler for this cloth and when she unpacked the cloth on her return to Schweinsberg, she found 36 Taler which Baruch had wrapped up in the parcel.

He was very learned and very clever. He had never sworn on oath in a court of law and had never taken anyone of another faith to court. He took French lessons while growing up in Kirchhain. For his time, he was an extremely learned man. He was much loved and when, after 30 years, he resigned from the post of Kreisvorsteher of Kirchhain, a vote was taken and he was unanimously re-instated."

From FamilyTreeMaker.com

Baruch Strauss was the eldest of the six sons of Hone. Together the six brothers started a woolen company known as 'Gebruder Strauss' (Strauss Brothers). It was a very lucrative company for many years until one of the brothers, Abraham, was killed in the war (World War I) and thereafter the company was disbanded.

     Baruch was the Mayor of the district of Kirchain for thirty years. He was a righteous man and loved to do favors for others. He was a generous man as well, giving out many loans to people without charging any interest. He refused to ever testify under oath and he was known as a very learned man for his time period. 

     There are two stories told about him. Once there was a poor man that knocked at his door and requested something from him. Unfortunately, Baruch was in a bad mood that day and he refused to give the poor man what he requested. Finding no help, the poor man continued on his journey. A half hour later, Baruch regreted what he had done and proceeded to run after the man and gave him what he wanted. Legend says that he had to run as far as the next big city to catch up with the poor man. Another story related was about business. Baruch was apparently selling some clothes to a man who was buying them for his son that was moving to America, but the man did not want to pay the full amount for the clothes, but Baruch had insisted that he must. When the man came home and opened the box with his purchases, the man noticed that his entire sum of money that he paid to Baruch was inside the box along with all his purchases.