Markus Magnus ( 1736) was an Elder of the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the first quarter of the eighteenth century and court Jew to the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

, afterward

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Frederick William I. The Jewish community of Berlin was divided into two hostile camps by Magnus' quarrels with his rival, wealthy jeweler

Jost Liebmann Jost Liebmann (died 1701) was a court Jew and court jeweller of Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg (King Frederick I of Prussia), and one of the leaders of the Jewish community of Berlin. Early life Originally from Göttingen, Liebmann arriv ...

. Frederick I favored the latter, while the crown prince supported Magnus, as did Berlin's increasingly-prominent

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

Jewish families, who had been expelled from their native city under Leopold I. After the death of Liebmann, his widow and sons continued these quarrels, which ended in the victory of Magnus. He induced the members of the community to build a public

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in place of the private synagogue previously maintained by members of the Liebmann family. The new Great Synagogue was consecrated on

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...

, 14 September 1714, in the presence of Queen Sophie Dorothea. When on 16 March 1722 the government issued a new regulation for the administration of the Berlin Jewish congregation, Magnus and Moses Levi Gumpertz were appointed permanent chief elders with a salary of 300 thalers each.

References

17th-century births 1736 deaths Court Jews 17th-century German Jews Jews and Judaism in Berlin People from Berlin {{jewish-bio-stub