-Aharon Miller-

-Aharon Miller-

Beius, Romania (in Hungarian, Belényes)

Translated by Esther Newman

Genealogy Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY

A city in the Crisana region, Bihor county [Hungarian: Bihar], close to Oradea-Mare [Hungarian: Nagyvarad; German: Grosswardein]. In the 19th century, it served as a center of Romanian culture and had a large cathedral. After the Treaty of Vienna (1940-1944) it remained in Romania and was the center of the southern part of the district of Bihor. The majority of the inhabitants were Romanian; about one-third of them were Hungarians.

Jewish Population

Year Number % of Jews in General Population

1920 563 14.4

1930 483 11.2

1941 433 15.5

1942 490

1947 230

Until the End of World War I

The first Jews settled in the early part of the 19th century. The city was then administered by the Church, and the Jews got permission from the Romanian Orthodox bishop of Oradea. The Romanian Bishops who came after him also allowed the Jewish inhabitants to settle without setting boundaries, and conducted themselves toward the Jews with tolerance. In that period they issued a number of rulings, such as an approval for a Jewish student of Rimni High School to get a reduction in his tuition at the discretion of the Cathedral, in the school year 1850-1851.

The congregation was founded in 1852 by 15 settlers. (There were more than 15 families living there at the time.) In 1857, the Burial Society was established, and in 1858, the large synagogue was built. After that they built other community buildings (a kosher mikvah, houses for the Rabbis and a few of the clerks).

The congregation was Orthodox and served as the matrimonial center of the villages of the area (1883). In general, in 1908, there were 103 villages within the Bihar county that were affiliated with the congregation. The majority of the Jews were employed in business and trade, but they were also government clerks and even policemen. (In the beginning of the 20th century, there was a local Jewish police commander.) The Jews spoke Hungarian, with Romanian as their second language.

The first Rabbi of the congregation was Jakob Rubin, who later moved to Valea Lui Mihai [Hungarian: Érmihályfalva]. In 1886, the Jewish elementary school opened in the city. The school was among the first Jewish schools in Transylvania. In 1894, the synagogue was enlarged so that it would be able to accommodate the Jews of the area. On the important holidays, 500 worshipers could be accomodated.

The relationship between the Jews and the Romanians and Hungarians was civil and there were no recorded stories of violence in the period before the First World War. In that war, 33 Jews of the town died, an especially large number. (About 30% of the Jews were drafted into the [Hungarian] army.)

Between the Two World Wars

In the first years after the war, when a portion of the Hungarian inhabitants left the town, the percentage of Jews went up and the relationships between the two countries vis a vis the Jews stayed good in that area, due to the special approval the the Jews had gotten from the Romanian Bishop of Oradea and because of the important trade connections between the Apuseni Mountains in Romania and the Tisza Plain in eastern Hungary.

In that period, the congregation and community became more established. They had a study house, school with seven classrooms, a kosher mikvah, and houses for the Rabbi, two shochets, the melamed, and the secretary of the community. From 1900 until his death in 1929, the Rabbi was Simon Pollack (born 1854), editor of a book of questions and answers, "Name from Simon" (Saini, 1893). After him, Asher Halevi Pollack (1931-1947) held the office until he moved to Oradea.

In the 1930's the conditions of the Jews worsened. In Oradea there was an anti-Semitic Bishop, who used his influence to inflame the Romanian population. During a visit to Beius in the 1930's, he responded to Rabbi Pollack's words of blessing with words of contempt about Jews. Economic conditions also worsened in Beius; the town changed and became the focus of an extreme anti-Semitic element.

Translated by Esther Newman and Shai Tzach Center for Jewish History, New York, NY The community was established in 1852 with 15 members, after they received permission to settle Jews in the city from the Orthodox Romanian Bishop of Oradea [2]. Five years later they built a synagogue, a mikve [ritual bath] and homes for the community workers. Until 1883, they paid community dues voluntarily. In that year, the city was made the district administrative center and was responsible for registering vital records from 103 surrounding villages and towns. A school was opened in Belenyes for the Orthodox community, which was among the first Jewish schools in Transylvania. Moshe Haadi taught combined classes, Grades 1 and 2 before noon and Grades 3 and 4 after noon. Of 225 families with 1,162 souls, 196 paid taxes. Yakov [Sandor] Rubin served as the rabbi and then moved to Mihalyfalva [3]. Rabbi Simon Pollak, author of the Book of Midrashim “Shem Shimon [Name of Simon],” was the rabbi from the year 1909 until his death in 1929.

נולד בשנת תרי"ח

נפטר ביום שלא נאמר בו כי טוב יום ב לסדר אחרי כ"ב למניין בני ישראל ש.ז.

אני מתרגם זאת ל- ז אייר תר"צ שהוא יום שני. כ"ב לעומר, הפרשה בשבת הבאה היא אחרי מות קדושים

ביום ב' ז׳ אייר נפטר בעיר גראס-וורדיין (אראדע־מארע(

הרב הגאון ר׳ שמעון פאללאק זצ״ל, בשנת השבעים ושתים לחייו. המנוח שמש ברבנות כחמישים שנה בקהילות שונות בטרנסילבניה והיה מגדולי הרבנים המפורסמים ,גדול בתורה בנגלה ובנסתר, נשארו ממנו הרבה ספרים בדפוס ובכתב״י . בהלויה השתתפו כל תושבי העיר ורבנים רבים מהעיר והסביבה . ספדנים רבים הספידוהו ותארו את אישיותו הגדולה של המנוח.= ת נ צ ב ״ ה=

הוסיפה- נכדתו אסתר מישה פאללאק

מחבר שו"ת שם משמעון

והספר "קול הרמה וההפרשה" ועוד

כתבי-יד רבים שאבדו בתקופת המלחמה.

נולד בשנת תרי"ח

נפטר ביום שלא נאמר בו כי טוב יום ב לסדר אחרי כ"ב למניין בני ישראל ש.ז.

אני מתרגם זאת ל- ז אייר תר"צ שהוא יום שני. כ"ב לעומר, הפרשה בשבת הבאה היא אחרי מות קדושים