The Older Brechers in Bukovina
Eisig Brecher of Rădăuți and the Kohanim of Siret
The Brechers were kohanim, and the records point back from the Maramureș mining towns to Bukovina: David and Asher were born in Siret (Sereth), Freide Frohner’s father owned a house there, and Abraham Brecher’s children were born in Rădăuți (Radautz). The civil registers of Siret and Rădăuți for those years are not available, but gravestones in both towns, an indexed Rădăuți birth entry and two printed books carry the line back four generations beyond Meir.
The generation above Eisig
Eisig Brecher of Rădăuți, very probably Meir’s father, is named on his own stone as the son of Reuven Mordechai HaKohen, and the 1869 birth entry of his son calls Eisig’s parents Ruben Mordko Brecher and Rifka née Salzberger of Siret. Because the register entry and his own stone agree, Eisig’s parentage is counted as Confirmed. In the Siret cemetery stands the stone of Reuven Mordechai, son of the late Yitzchak Aizik HaKohen, “son-in-law of the rabbi of this town”, who died on 28 Elul 5628 (15 September 1868); the stone also names the day as a Sabbath, which fits 28 Elul 5627 (28 September 1867), and both dates are shown. The surname is joined to him in print: the epitaph that his grandson, the author R’ Yaakov Zeev Wolf Brecher HaKohen of Banila, composed for his own father spells out in its verses “Zvi son of Reuven Mordechai Kohen Brecher”. Likely
Reuven Mordechai’s wife Rivka (Ruvtse) née Salzberger very probably died on 20 Elul 5650 (5 September 1890): a Siret stone (BC-17) of an aged “Rivka called Ruvtse, daughter of HaRav R’ Yaakov Zeev” is very probably hers (it gives no surname or husband). He was R’ Yaakov Zeev son of Aryeh, of Stryj, Av Beit Din of Sereth, who was born about 1764 and died on 15 Iyar 5604 (4 May 1844), “aged eighty”; his wife, the rebbetzin Leah daughter of Yehuda, died three weeks later, on 26 May 1844. Reuven Mordechai and Rivka’s son Yaakov Zeev (d. 1886) is called on his stone a “grandson of the rabbi of this town”, and the Banila author wrote in his introduction to the rabbi’s teachings, Chedvat Yaakov, that he descended from the rabbi through both his father and his mother. Another son, Avraham Yehuda, died in 1894. Likely
Reuven Mordechai’s father, R’ Yitzchak Aizik HaKohen of Siret, is named on his son’s stone (Confirmed as his father). His own stone has not been found; he probably died before about 1832, when his grandson Eisig was born and given his name. Three more of his children very probably lie in the Siret cemetery: Zvi Hirsh HaKohen, praised on his stone as a learned man and carved with the priestly hands, who died on 5 Iyar 5601 (26 April 1841), Chaya Feige, who died on 7 Kislev 5603 (10 November 1842), and Zlate (Zlata), “daughter of Yitzchak Aizik Katz”, who died on 17 Kislev 5595 (19 December 1834). Likely
Reuven Mordechai’s son Zvi (Hersch) Brecher HaKohen, very probably Eisig’s younger brother, was born about 1841 and died in Jerusalem on 25 Tishrei 5669 (20 October 1908), aged sixty-seven; his wife was Chana Ruchama. Their son, R’ Yaakov Zeev Wolf Brecher HaKohen of Banila, is the author whose books appear at the end of this chapter. Confirmed
The title page of Chedvat Yaakov, printed in Marghita in 1938, describes R’ Yaakov Zeev, the rabbi of Sereth, as a foremost disciple of R’ Zvi Hirsh of Nadwórna, R’ Yechiel Michel, the Maggid of Złoczów, and R’ Yaakov Yitzchak, the Seer of Lublin.
The list of teachers on the title page and in the opening pages (p. 5) is family tradition, printed by his descendants when the book appeared in 1938. For one of them the Rav’s own words survive: on p. 27 of Chedvat Yaakov he cites “my teacher”, the Maggid R’ Yechiel Michel of Złoczów (Confirmed). The Maggid of Nadwórna and the Seer of Lublin rest on the printed family tradition alone.
A year before the book came out, an advertisement in the Czernowitz Yiddish paper Dos Yudishe Vort (8 October 1937) offered Chedvat Yaakov “by the Rav R’ Yaakov Zeev of blessed memory, Av Beit Din of Sereth”, bound together with novellae on the Talmud “by the author’s grandson, the Rav R’ Yaakov Zeev HaKohen” — the Banila rabbi Yaakov Zeev Wolf Brecher HaKohen. It is a second printed witness, independent of the book’s introduction, that the Brecher kohanim descend from the rabbi of Sereth (Confirmed).
Four generations in Siret and Rădăuți
- R’ Yitzchak Aizik HaKohen of Siret; d. before 1868, probably before c. 1832 Likely
- Zvi Hirsh HaKohen, d. 26 Apr 1841 · Chaya Feige, d. 10 Nov 1842 Likely
- Reuven Mordechai (Ruben Mordko) Brecher HaKohen, d. 28 Elul 5628 (15 Sep 1868) / 28 Sep 1867, Siret = Rivka (Ruvtse) née Salzberger, d. 20 Elul 5650 (5 Sep 1890), daughter of R’ Yaakov Zeev ben Aryeh of Stryj, Av Beit Din of Sereth (d. 4 May 1844), and Leah bat Yehuda (d. 26 May 1844) Likely
- Eisig (Yitzchak Aizik) Brecher HaKohen, b. Siret, c. 1832; mill tenant at Volovăț 1869; d. 19 Jan 1911, Rădăuți, aged 79 = Lea née Bernstein (bat Binyamin Tzvi), b. Czernowitz, c. 1831; daughter of Benjamin Hersch Bernstein and Chaje née Frenkel of Buczacz; d. 16 Jan 1916 Likely
- Meir (Majer) Brecher HaKohen of Kapnikbánya, b. c. 1851–52 = Freide Frohner Likely
- Riwen Mordche (Reuven Mordechai) Brecher, b. 1 Mar 1869, Volovăț, near Rădăuți Likely
- Abraham Brecher, b. 1864, Rădăuți; of New York = Miriam (Mirjam) Langsner Likely
- Zvi (Hersch) Brecher HaKohen, c. 1841 – 20 Oct 1908, Jerusalem = Chana Ruchama Confirmed
- R’ Yaakov Zeev Wolf Brecher HaKohen of Banila, b. 1866, d. 1941, Banila; author Confirmed
- Reuven Mordechai, d. 15 Sep 1917 · Mordechai · a daughter, wife of Aharon Confirmed
- Yaakov Zeev HaKohen, d. 1886 · Avraham Yehuda HaKohen, d. 1894 Likely
Further kin of the rabbi of Sereth on the Siret stones
| Ester Michla | Daughter of the rabbi R’ Yaakov Zeev; probably Rivka’s sister (Likely); d. 2 Elul 5630 (29 Aug 1870), Siret; her stone praises her care for the poor and the sick; stone K-52 Confirmed |
|---|---|
| Yute bat Baruch | “Granddaughter of the Rav R’ Yaakov Zeev of Sereth”; d. 26 Tevet 5674 (24 Jan 1914), Siret; her father Baruch was a son or a son-in-law of the rabbi (Possible); stone K-51 Likely |
| Source | Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization, Siret Jewish cemetery documentation (2022), stones K-51 and K-52 |
Two more stones in Siret belong to the rabbi’s family: his daughter Ester Michla, probably Rivka’s sister, and Yute, daughter of Baruch, called on her stone his granddaughter.
Zvi Hirsh’s sons, and the Brechers of Safed
Two more stones in the same group as Zvi Hirsh, son of Yitzchak Aizik HaKohen (d. 26 April 1841), carry his line one step further. Beside his grave lies Reuven, son of the late R’ Zvi HaKohen, an adult who died on 17 January 1845 — very probably Zvi Hirsh’s son (Likely). Close by is the stone of the young man Aizik, son of Avraham HaKohen, grandson of R’ Zvi HaKohen, who died on 15 Tevet 5602 (28 December 1841). He carried the name of his great-grandfather Yitzchak Aizik, and his stone gives Zvi Hirsh a son named Avraham (Likely).
That Avraham is very probably R’ Avraham Brecher of Safed. The 1875 Montefiore census of Safed lists “R’ Avraham Brecher”, born in Sereth, aged 75, who had come to the Holy Land in 1868, with his wife Gela; a printed family history of the Safed Brechers calls him R’ Avraham son of R’ Zvi Brecher of Sereth and gives his death in Safed in 1880. Born about 1800, he was old enough to have had a grown son in Siret in 1841. The Safed family were kohanim from Sereth and Rădăuți, the same two towns as our own line. No single record yet joins the Safed Avraham to the Siret one, so he is shown here as very likely Zvi Hirsh’s son (Likely), and his Safed descendants are kept apart from the main tree. In particular, the Zvi Hirsch Brecher of Safed who was still living in 1912–14 is a different man from our Zvi (Hersch) Brecher HaKohen, who died in Jerusalem in 1908.
Zvi Hirsh’s line on the Siret stones and in Safed Likely
| Zvi Hirsh HaKohen | Son of R’ Yitzchak Aizik HaKohen; d. 5 Iyar 5601 (26 Apr 1841), Siret |
|---|---|
| Reuven HaKohen | “Son of the late R’ Zvi HaKohen”; d. 17 Jan 1845, Siret; buried beside Zvi Hirsh |
| Avraham HaKohen | Son of Zvi; b. Sereth c. 1800; very probably R’ Avraham Brecher, to Safed 1868, in the 1875 census there, d. Safed 1880; wife Gela |
| Aizik HaKohen | Son of Avraham, “grandson of R’ Zvi HaKohen”; d. young, 15 Tevet 5602 (28 Dec 1841), Siret |
| Sources | Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization, Siret Jewish cemetery survey; Montefiore Endowment, 1875 census of Safed (Kolel Austria, household 6877, line 8) |
Eisig and Lea in Rădăuți
In the Jewish cemetery of Rădăuți stands the stone of Eisig (Yitzchak Aizik) Brecher HaKohen, son of Reuven Mordechai, who died on 19 January 1911 aged 79, and near it the stone of Lea Brecher, daughter of Binyamin Tzvi, wife of Eisig, who died on 16 January 1916 aged 85. Eisig is very probably Meir’s father; no single record yet names them together.
The civil registers of Rădăuți, indexed name by name, add the outline of Eisig’s family. A son, Riwen Mordche (Reuven Mordechai), was born on 1 March 1869 at Volovăț, beside Rădăuți, to Eisig Brecher and Lea Bernstein — six months after Reuven Mordechai HaKohen died in Siret, and bearing his name. The entry names both sets of grandparents (below); Eisig, born in Siret, was then a mill tenant at Volovăț, and Lea had been born in Czernowitz. Eisig Leib Brecher and Lea Bernstein re-registered their marriage before the civil authorities of Rădăuți on 15 March 1890. The same registers record both deaths, on the dates their stones give. Another son, Abraham, was born in Rădăuți in 1864; he married Mirjam Langsner of Mihăileni, and their children Regina (25 December 1891), Chaje (6 April 1893) and Mordke (11 June 1897) were born in Rădăuți, at house no. 1052. He is very probably the Abraham Brecher, husband of Miriam Langsner, who settled in New York (see the chapter on Markus and Abraham Brecher). Likely
The 1869 birth entry at Volovăț Likely
| Child | Riwen Mordche (Reuven Mordechai) Brecher, born 1 March 1869, Volovăț |
|---|---|
| Father | Eisig (Eisig Leib) Brecher, born in Siret; mill tenant |
| Father’s parents | Ruben Mordko Brecher and Rifka née Salzberger, of Siret |
| Mother | Lea née Bernstein, born in Czernowitz |
| Mother’s parents | Benjamin Hersch Bernstein and Chaje née Frenkel, of Buczacz |
| Note | Birth legitimized by the parents’ civil marriage, Rădăuți, 15 March 1890 |
| Source | Bukovina births index (JewishGen Romania Database), from the Rădăuți Jewish civil registers, births vol. 1, p. 38 |
Lea’s own parents were Binyamin Tzvi (Benjamin Hersch) Bernstein and Chaje née Frenkel, recorded as living in Buczacz, in Galicia, when their grandson was registered in 1869. Lea’s stone in Rădăuți names her father as Binyamin Tzvi, which agrees with the register (Likely). Lea’s son Abraham named his first son Hersch (Binyamin Tzvi), born in October 1888, and a daughter Chaje, born in April 1893; as children were named only for relatives who had died, Binyamin Tzvi had very probably died before October 1888 and Chaje before April 1893 (Likely). Their graves and parents are not known; no death record of the right age has been found for either of them in Czernowitz or Rădăuți.
Riwen Mordche Brecher of Gura Humorului
Eisig and Lea’s son Riwen Mordche (Reuven Mordechai), born at Volovăț in 1869, settled in the Humor valley. On 17 March 1895 at Gura Humorului he married Chana Itte (Hava-Jetty) Knobler, aged 24, born in Buczacz in Galicia, the daughter of Israel Feiwisch (Srul) Knobler, a merchant of Gura Humorului, and Sure Judith (Sara Judit) née Frenkel. Riwen kept a tavern and by 1900 is described as an appointed official. Their children were registered at Mănăstirea Humorului and Gura Humorului.
Riwen Mordche Brecher and Chana Itte Knobler Confirmed
| Husband | Riwen Mordche (Reuven Mordechai) Brecher, b. 1 Mar 1869, Volovăț; son of Eisig (Isak) Brecher and Lea née Bernstein; d. 1942 |
|---|---|
| Wife | Chana Itte (Hava-Jetty, Jutte) née Knobler, b. c. 1871 (1873 in the memorial book), Buczacz; d. 1941 |
| Marriage | 17 Mar 1895, Gura Humorului |
| Wife’s parents | Israel Feiwisch (Srul) Knobler, b. c. 1841, Buczacz, son of Moses and Chaje Knobler; and Sure Judith née Frenkel, b. c. 1845, Buczacz (her parents Leibisch and Lea Frenkel of Buczacz Likely) |
| Children | Rivka, b. c. Oct 1892, d. 9 Apr 1900, Gura Humorului · Jakob Leib, b. 15 Sep 1895 · Moische, b. c. Jul 1896, d. 27 Oct 1896 (Likely) · Rebeka, b. 26 Sep 1899 · Clara, b. 23 Dec 1900 — all at Mănăstirea Humorului or Gura Humorului |
| Later years | The memorial book of Gura Humorului lists “Reuven Mordechai Brecher son of Isak, 1870–1942” and “Hava-Jetty née Knobler, daughter of Israel, 1873–1941” |
| Sources | Bukovina civil registers of Gura Humorului, births, marriages and deaths, indexed in the JewishGen Romania Database; Gura Humorului memorial book, list of the dead |
Rădăuți and Siret
Brechers of Siret and Rădăuți in the Czernowitz press
Hugo Gold’s history of the Jews of Bukovina names Brecher among the established families in the list of Siret’s citizens for 1840. The newspapers of Czernowitz, digitized by the Austrian National Library, show Brechers of Siret and Rădăuți through the following decades: Juda Brecher of Siret, a lessee of the state mills at Rădăuți in 1869; Chaim Joel Brecher, innkeeper at the Siret bridge in 1897 and later a merchant and liquor-licence lessee; Josef Brecher, a lawyer of Siret; Nora Brecher of Rădăuți, a translator; and Pepi Rudich née Brecher, who died in Rădăuți in 1906 aged 72. Their exact relationship to Eisig is not stated in any record found, and they are shown as possible kin.
One of these Brechers can be placed. A double stone in the Jewish cemetery of Rădăuți (plot 2, row 9) stands for Chaim Yoel Brecher HaKohen, son of Avraham Yehuda HaKohen, who died in Cheshvan 5702 (October–November 1941), and his wife Chana, daughter of Yitzchak, who died in Elul 5701 (August–September 1941). The rare name Avraham Yehuda HaKohen points to Reuven Mordechai’s son of that name, who died in Siret in 1894; this makes Chaim Yoel very probably a grandson of Reuven Mordechai and a first cousin of Meir. The Chaim Joel Brecher of the press notices above — the innkeeper at the Siret bridge in 1897, the Siret merchant of 1905 and the Kamenka firm of 1907 — is very probably the same man.
The Banila branch: Rabbi Yaakov Zeev Wolf Brecher
The Siret family of Reuven Mordechai HaKohen continued in print through his grandson Rabbi Yaakov Zeev Wolf (Jacob Wolf) Brecher HaKohen of Banila on the Siret, son of Zvi and Chana Ruchama, born in Banila in 1866. He was a student of Rabbi Pinchas Moshe Burstein, Av Beit Din of Sereth from 1881 until his death in November 1905, whose installation sermon he later printed. His books include Refuot HaTugah (Lemberg, 1902); Shiloh, two sermons in honour of Theodor Herzl and Nahum Sokolow (first printed in Lemberg in 1903, reprinted in Czernowitz in 1924); Sefer HaAdam, a book of moral verse that also prints the epitaph he wrote for his father; Katuv Yosher (Czernowitz, 1925); Parperaot LaMikraot (Marghita, about 1930); Chedvat Yaakov with Kav HaChen HaMeruach (Marghita, 1938), the teachings of his ancestor the rabbi of Sereth; and Kiyor Me’even Dar, issued after his death by one of his children. He died in Banila in 1941. Confirmed
One more book of his survives: Pshuto shel Mikra, printed in Marghita in 5703 (1942–43), a copy of which carries his own stamp, “Jacob W. Brecher, Banila”. In 1936 the Czernowitz Yiddish paper Dos Yidishe Vort twice names R’ Yaakov Brecher of Banila among the town’s supporters of the paper.
Katuv Yosher opens with his own account of the war years. On 17 Sivan 5676 (18 June 1916), as the front drew near, he left Banila with eleven wagons, one of them for his son-in-law Aharon and his household, and spent about fifteen months as a refugee in Transylvania, at Óradna (Rodna) and then Năsăud, coming home to Banila in September 1917 to an empty house (his own account in Katuv Yosher); by 1929 he was preaching in Banila again. In the same book he names his children: his son Reuven Mordechai, a gymnasium teacher and officer, who died on 28 Elul 5677 (15 September 1917) and carried the name of the Siret ancestor; a son, Mordechai; and a married daughter, the wife of Aharon, whose names beyond these are not given. Confirmed