Die religiöse Funktion Politischer Israelitengemeinden
The Religious Function of Jewish Political Communities

Summary/Abstract: Until 1885, the majority of Jewish political communities in Moravia also fulfilled religious functions. This study examines the legal conditions for the close union between local Jewish political communities and Jewish religious communities, as well as the problems that were associated with this. In 1884, as a result of these problems, the Moravian Jewish political communities responded, on the whole, positively to the regulation on granting autonomy to the Jewish religious communities. However, while the institutional split took place in 1885 at the latest, the process of dividing property was drawn out over 25 years in some cases, due to the complex nature of determining the religious or secular character of the property involved. In conclusion, the study shows that the confessional character of Jewish political communities indicates the limits of Jewish integration into the wider society, as Jews made use of this self-governing institution as one of the means of preserving their religious traditions and identity in the era of liberalism.

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