But the rejoicing of the foes of the Jews in Worms did not last long. The council, humiliated by the committee of citizens, secretly negotiated with Frederick, elector palatine, and, about ten days after the expulsion of the Jews, he moved infantry, cavalry, and cannon into the town, under the unavailing protest of the committee, and this soon brought the disorder to an end. Still it was nearly nine months before the Worms Jews were re-admitted by order of the elector palatine and the bishop of Speyer (January 19th, 1616, new style). Two months afterwards, the Jews of Frankfort were led back, as in triumph, with the sound of trumpets, and blowing of horns, by the commissioners of the electorate of Mayence and Darmstadt (Adar 20th==March 10th). Here the rioters were more severely punished than at Worms, because they had caused destruction, plundering, and bloodshed. Vincent Fettmilch, the pastry-cook, the Frankfort Haman, was hanged, and quartered, his house razed to the ground, and his family banished. The city was fined 175,919 florins by the emperor as compensation for the depredations committed on Jewish property. In memory of this extraordinary deliverance and honorable restoration, not an every-day occurrence in the German Empire, the Frankfort community appointed the day of their return (Adar 20th) to be observed as a feast-day, named Purim-Vincent, the day before being kept as a fast in memory of their sufferings.
The old "permissive residence" of the Jews in Worms and Frankfort was abolished by Matthias, who introduced a new regulation, recommended by the commissioners in 1617. This new arrangement still bore the impress of the Middle Ages. The old restrictions of the Jews, as to dress, occupation and movement, were retained, and, if possible, made more severe in some respects. The Jews were still considered outcasts, even by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and his councilors. "As they are privileged by the emperor, the council is to protect them, and no longer has the power to banish those who have obtained 'permissive residence.'" The Frankfort Jews, re-admitted at that time, did not need to renew their right of residence every three years as before, and transmitted it to their descendants. On the other hand, the number of Jews was fixed at 500. Not more than six new families a year could be granted "permissive residence," and only twelve couples a year could get married. A further restriction was that the Jews should not be called citizens of Frankfort; they were only hereditary protected dependents of the council. In addition to the old protection fee, there was a marriage and an inheritance tax. The restrictions in the new Jewish ordinance for Worms proved, if possible, still more oppressive.
The banishment of the Jews from two cities of western Germany, and their restoration had a favorable result for the German Jews. It was an advantage to all German communities that the emperor had emphatically insisted on, and by force of arms confirmed, the safety of the Jews. Emperor Ferdinand II, though a pupil of the Jesuits and a destroyer of Protestants, confirmed the inviolability of the Jews throughout the whole empire, especially in Frankfort and Worms, when the citizens of these places again thought of persecuting them. Hence it came about, that the destructive, cruel Thirty Years' War did not affect the Jews in Germany so severely as might have been expected. Of course, they did not fail to share the sufferings of the German nation, which, divided into two camps, drew the sword against its own breast, and made havoc of its own land. The Jews, like the rest of the population, had to submit to the plunderings and ravagings which leaders of armies, such as Mansfeld, Tilly, and Wallenstein, one after the other, brought upon flourishing cities.
Many a Jewish community was destroyed by the fury of war. But at least the Jews had nothing to fear from the internal foe, and, in the seclusion of their Ghettos, were perfectly secure from all attacks. The Catholic generals had orders from the emperor to spare the life and property of Jews, so that many a Protestant could lodge, and save his property, in the Jewish quarter. Before Wallenstein made the discovery that war is supported by war, and that a large army can obtain means for itself, the war carried on by Ferdinand II against the Protestant half of Germany required much money, and the imperial treasury had always been poor. But ready money was chiefly in the iron chests of Jewish capitalists. Hence, the financial springs, the Jews, had to be protected, if the war was to be carried on successfully. Consequently, the emperor, acting with careful consideration, impressed upon his generals to spare the Jews from all the hardships of war, including the quartering of troops. How dearly this tender treatment cost the communities is not known. The Bohemian Jews paid a considerable sum, and bound themselves to contribute 40,000 florins a year towards defraying the expenses of the war.
The court of Vienna invented another means of making Jews contribute to the war. It appointed Jewish capitalists as court Jews, granted them most extensive freedom of trade, freed them from the restrictions to which other Jews were subjected, even from wearing the yellow badge, in a word, afforded them and their families an exceptionally favored position.
The Jewish community of Vienna enjoyed great consideration during, or perhaps on account of, this war. Through the indifference of Spain, the center of Catholicism was transferred at that time from the Manzanares to the Danube, from Madrid to Vienna. The Jews, who by degrees re-assembled in Vienna, in spite of repeated banishment by the emperors, came into close relations with important European affairs. Court Jews and Jewish physicians repaired to Vienna with their retinue, i. e., persons depending, or pretending to be dependent, upon them. The Viennese Jews at that time were considered to be exceedingly rich. As they lived scattered in various quarters of the city, they felt the necessity of assembling and having a common place for prayer. They applied to the emperor, and he granted them a site in what is now Leopoldstadt, released them from the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities, and even excused them from wearing the badge. At the very time when Protestant Hamburg citizens were jealously on the watch that no synagogue be granted to the Portuguese Jews, the arch-Catholic emperor allowed them to build in his capital a new synagogue with all its appurtenances (December, 1624). His "liberated," i. e., privileged Jews were not required to quarter troops, or to contribute to the expenses of the war. The magistrates, of course, raised objections to the favor shown to Jews, and wished to turn the whole "swarm of Jews" out of the city. The court councilors, who desired to extort money, gave the citizens to understand that, for 20,000 florins, they might enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the Jews banished; but at the same time, they whispered to the Jews, that if they anticipated the payment of this sum, they might remain in Vienna. Probably the Jews prevailed.
The united and prosperous community looked about for a rabbinical leader, and, in February, 1625, made happy choice of Lipmann Heller, an amiable and learned man, at that time rabbi of Nikolsburg. He was no brilliant personage, but his talents stand out conspicuously from the dark background of the time. He forms an exception to the rabbis of that age, at least to those in Germany and Poland. He not only occupied himself with Talmudic learning, but was acquainted with branches of knowledge outside the rabbinical field. For instance, Heller had studied other than Jewish literature, and understood mathematics well. In the Talmudical department he could not compare with contemporary Poles of distinction, with Samuel Edles at Ostrog, Joshua Falk at Lemberg, Joel Serkes at Cracow, and many others. But if he was inferior to them in acuteness, more properly, subtlety, he surpassed them in profundity and lucidity.
Heller (born 1579, died 1654) possessed a mild nature, an attractive presence, and skill in speech, and could, therefore, frequent Christian circles. Far from the conceit which brooks no contradiction – a failing of most representatives of rabbinical learning in Poland – he prepossessed every one in his favor, and won all hearts by his modesty. He is one of those whom we involuntarily pity for having lived in such barbarous times. In a better age they might have labored with more success for Judaism. In his thirtieth year, at the same age as Maimuni, he completed a gigantic work, a comprehensive commentary on the Mishna (Tossafoth Yom-Tob, 1614–1617). This involved a much greater amount of work than his great predecessor, or Obadiah di Bertinoro, had been forced to devote to it, if we take into account how much the materials to be considered, examined, and tested, had increased in the interval.
Having been summoned to Vienna to the post of rabbi, he labored usefully for this young community. He drew up its constitution, and for the short time of his official career there was esteemed and beloved. With his peaceful disposition he should have remained at Vienna instead of allowing himself to be attracted by the seemingly superior qualities of the Prague community, where vulgarity and baseness, envy and malice, still prevailed. For this circle Heller was most unfit, but he was attracted to the Bohemian capital, where there was incomparably more study of the Talmud, and where he could hope to enjoy interchange of thought. Only too soon he had occasion to regret his acceptance of this office. As acting rabbi, Heller was president of the commission which had the thankless task of distributing the large yearly war tax of 40,000 thalers among the members of the Prague community and those of the country communities. With Heller's upright and pure character it may be assumed that he acted with the utmost conscientiousness, and that he did not knowingly overburden anyone. Nevertheless, some members complained of improper allotment, raised a quarrel in the community, and collected a large following, who threatened the commission with accusations. In vain did Heller raise his warning voice against the prevailing dissension, speaking from the pulpit, now in mild, now in severe terms. Contumacy combined with envy, and the discontented party accused him and the elders of the commission before the civil authorities of having with partiality spared the rich, and laid the burden of the tax on the shoulders of those with less means, compelling payment of the share imposed by threats of excommunication, imprisonment, and other punishments. The accusations against Heller must have been of a still more hateful nature. The drift was that in one of his works he had used offensive expressions against Christianity. To give emphasis to their calumny, they reported to a person close to the emperor, who prided himself much on his theological knowledge, that Heller had boasted in the hearing of the Stadtholder of Prague that he had beaten him in a disputation. At the same time the slanderers hinted that the accused rabbi was in possession of much property, which would fall to the imperial treasury in case he was found guilty. To gratify their revenge or their malicious spirit, the informers quite overlooked the fact that by this means they might bring on a persecution, not only of Prague Jews, but of all German Jews.
Their slander met with only too ready a hearing. A formal command from the emperor reached the Stadtholder of Prague to have Rabbi Lipmann Heller sent in chains to Vienna. In view of the military severity customary during the Thirty Years' War even the innocent had the worst to fear. However, Heller was so highly esteemed even by Christian officials, that the head of police, who was charged with his custody, behaved with extraordinary indulgence towards him, and he was allowed to travel to Vienna merely on bail. On arriving he waited on the chancellor, in order to learn particulars with regard to the accusation brought against him. The chancellor sternly alleged what led Heller to fear the worst – that he had written against the Christian religion. Thereupon Heller was put into prison, confined with criminal offenders, and a commission of clergy appointed to establish his guilt as a blasphemer. The sentence was that Heller properly deserved death, but that the emperor was willing to exercise mercy and allow the punishment of death to be commuted to a fine of 12,000 thalers, to be paid immediately, and that the incriminated writings were to be destroyed. The Prague slanderers who were not pleased with the sentence, did not rest till the emperor deprived Heller of the office of rabbi at Prague, and declared him unworthy to fill the rabbinical office wherever the emperor's scepter held sway. At last, after a confinement of forty days, he was liberated, with the loss of his office and his property, and without any prospect of an appointment elsewhere. The maligning of Lipmann Heller was not altogether without consequences to the Jews. The bigoted emperor and many of the clergy who had been led to notice the bearing of Jews towards Christianity conceived the idea of introducing in Vienna Pope Gregory XIII's plan of preaching sermons for the conversion of Jews. The emperor issued a decree in February, 1630, that Jews be compelled to listen to conversion sermons every Saturday morning between eight and nine, at least 200 members of both sexes in equal numbers to be present, among them forty young Jews, of from fifteen to twenty years of age. Every one summoned to hear the preachers was to be fined a thaler in case of absence, and a higher sum if the offense was repeated. Sleeping and talking during the sermon were punished. The fines were to be used in support of converted Jews. The conversion of Jews was a matter that the emperor had at heart, and he hoped much from these compulsory measures. However, this plan was not easily carried out. The court councilors, to whom the emperor committed the matter, were not proof against bribery, and followed the Jesuits, who laid less stress on catching Jewish souls than on the oppression of Protestants and the increasing of their own power.
The annals of the Thirty Years' War contain no record of special sufferings of the Jewish race. It seems almost as if Jews were better treated than Christians. At least, in Mayence, the Swedes, who resided there more than four years, from the end of 1631 to 1636, behaved more kindly to them than to others. They were not greatly impoverished, for they were able, three years after the departure of the Swedes, to build a synagogue at Mayence, and thus extend their community, a favor which it had not been in their power to enjoy for more than 150 years. The Thirty Years' War ended, as is well known, at Prague, on the very stage where it had begun. The Swedish general besieged the city on the Moldau, and had already captured one quarter. But the inhabitants resisted bravely, and the Jews were not behind the others, if not with arms, yet with labor, in the trenches, and with extinguishing apparatus. It was a Jew who brought intelligence to the emperor from the besieged city in order to obtain relieving forces. On account of their attachment to the imperial family, the Bohemian Jews obtained from Ferdinand III an extension of their rights, which consisted in the privilege of residing in all royal cities and domains, and in not being expelled without the knowledge of the emperor. It may be assumed that the Jews did not lose very much by the devastating war. While the Christian population was thoroughly impoverished, and had to contend with want – the chief circumstance which induced the rulers to conclude the Peace of Westphalia – the Jews had saved something. The booty of many cities went through their hands, and, even if they were exorbitantly taxed, and forced to pay heavy sums, they still derived some gain. Hence it came about that directly after the close of the Thirty Years' War, when great numbers of their fugitive brethren came from Poland through Germany, they could be supported in a brotherly way by the German communities; for the Jews of Poland, for the first time, were visited with a long-continued, bloody persecution. The cup of suffering was not to pass them by.