PFALZBURG:
German city in the consistorial district of Metz; formerly in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and in the consistorial district of Nancy. A Jewish community has existed there since the middle of the eighteenth century; in 1770 it comprised twelve families. A gravestone built into the present temple bears date of 1772, the year of the construction of the old synagogue, on the site of which a new synagogue was dedicated Sept. 11, 1857. Besides the synagogue there is a house containing an oratory and a miḳweh as well as the apartments of the ḥazzan. The community formerly had four benevolent societies; but only one has survived, the gemilut ḥasadim, which was founded in 1803 and is devoted to the care of the poor. Until 1901 Pfalzburg had a Jewish school; but on account of the decrease of the Jewish population it was closed, and the rabbi now gives religious instruction both to children and to the Jewish students at the city normal school. The cemetery was opened Jan. 26, 1796, and is used by the two communities of Pfalzburg and Mittelbronn.
The rabbinate of the city was founded in 1807, and includes the communities of Pfalzburg, Saarburg, Finstingen, Lixheim, Schalbach, Mittelbronn, Imling, Gosselming, and Langatte. The list ofrabbis is as follows: Baruch Guggenheim (1807-14; later chief rabbi at Nancy); Seligman Godchaux (1814-27; later rabbi at Hagenau and chief rabbi at Strasburg and Colmar); Meyer Heymann (1827-37); Lazare Isidor (1837-47; later chief rabbi of Paris and of France; during his residence at Pfalzburg he, together with Adolphe Crémieux, secured the abolition of the oath "More Judaico"); Bär Lippman (1847-64; later chief rabbi of Metz and of Lille); Isaac Bigart (1864-75; later chief rabbi of Metz); Isaac Weil (1875-85; later chief rabbi of Metz and of Strasburg); Felix Blum (1886-99; now rabbi at Mühlhausen); and Elie Joseph Wiener (called to Antwerp in 1904), who was installed Nov. 1, 1899.
