Wolf Benjamin Eibeschütz (born 1740 in Prague; died 18 November 1806 in Dresden) was a Kabbalist, adventurer, philanthropist, and Saxon court official.
Life
Wolf was the son of Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz and his wife Elkele Spira, the daughter of Rabbi Isaak Spira (Chief Rabbi of Bohemia, died December 26, 1749, in Prague). His eldest sister was married to Mordechai Kasab (ben Isaak Bondi), while his younger sister, Hizel, married Moses Benjamin Wulff Fränkel of Breslau in 1755. His brothers—Löw (died 1772), Isaac, Aaron (died 1829), Nathan Nata (who founded the Eibeschütz Synagogue in Dresden at Zahnsgasse 77), and Mordechai (died 1799)—all lived in Dresden for a time.Gershom Scholem, "Baruchia, Leader of the Sabbateans in Salonika (Conclusion)," in *Zion*, Tammuz 5701, p. 195.
On May 9, 1800, in Breslau, he married Amalie (Michla) Bloch (1780–1853)—using the name Wolf Jonas Adlersthal—the daughter of the Breslau rabbi Moses Fischel Bloch. After Eibeschütz's death, she married the transport entrepreneur Simon Kremser, who, in 1825, introduced Berlin's first public local transport service using his horse-drawn omnibuses (known as *Kremser*). Her children with Eibeschütz were Elkele (born 1801), Sheindel (born 1802), and Matil (born 1803).
He moved with his father to Metz and Altona. As a youth, he went to Vienna, and began leading an adventurous life. At the age of fifteen, dressed in Turkish attire, he traveled through Hungary, Podolia, and Moravia. He claimed to have prophetic visions and assumed the role of a messiah, successfully gathering a following. He met several times with Jacob Frank. In Moravia, he befriended the Dobruška family, who were followers of Jacob Frank. He also met followers of the sect leader Baruchiah Russo (aka Osman Baba, 1677–1720) and married Russo’s daughter or granddaughter. He vied with Jacob Frank for leadership of the Podolian and Moravian Sabbateans. In Brno, he used his knowledge of the appearance of Halley’s Comet—which had been first described in Dresden, where the brothers lived, by Johann Georg Palitzsch—to dazzle his followers with a pillar of fire in the sky accompanied by a meteor shower. He was eighteen years old at the time. Yechezkel Landau, the Chief Rabbi of Prague, issued a letter to Jonathan Eibenschütz regarding these activities, urging him to stop supporting his son’s impious conduct, as it cast a dark shadow over him as well. Wolf Eibeschütz fell into debt, faced arrest, and fled to Altona. Instead of disowning him as demanded, his father published an unfinished work (*Krethi u-Plethi*) to pay off his son's debts. In 1762, Wolf returned to Vienna, where he met the future Austrian envoy Franz Joseph von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (1737–1806)—whom he subsequently followed to Dresden—and amassed a fortune. Documentary evidence from 1765 identifies him in Dresden as an employee of the court factor Joseph Jonas Meyer. Saxon government officials, particularly Count Joseph von Bolza, came to value him and frequently consulted him on matters of state. In 1769, he was granted a license as a "court Jew." He initially resided in a house on the Altmarkt as well as a country house with a garden in Briesnitz, which he referred to as "Haus Priesnitz" . Citing this "country estate," he petitioned the Emperor for the title of Baron (*Freiherr*), which was duly granted. However, because he refused to renounce the Jewish faith, the title was revoked; his friends in Dresden overlooked this, however, and continued to address him as Baron Adlersthal. During the bitter cold of January 1784, the Dresden chronicler Johann Christian Hasche praised his generosity toward the Jewish and Christian poor. After giving up the country house, Wolf Eibeschütz moved into the Boxberg Palace on Waisenhausstraße.Karl Wilhelm Daßdorf: Beschreibung der vorzüglichsten Merkwürdigkeiten der Churfürstlichen Residenzstadt Dresden und einiger seiner umliegenden Gegenden. Dresden 1782, S. 717
In Altona, Eybeschütz was monitored by Rabbi Jacob Emden—his father’s adversary—who dedicated the chapters "The Fool’s Laughter" (*Seḥok Ha-Kesil*) and "Wolf’s Lair" (*Yekev Ze’ev*) in his book *Hit’abkut* to documenting the younger Eybeschütz’s activities. According to the accounts published by Emden, Benjamin Wolf established a synagogue within the magnificent home he had built, which became a center for Sabbateanism. The elderly Kabbalist Moshe David of Podhajce served as the prayer leader; he viewed the young Benjamin Wolf as possessing a holy soul—"a soul the likes of which had not existed in the world for two thousand years"—and the prayer group included Nathan Auerholz (the Rabbi of Stampfen), the Sabbateans Meir Frostitz and Wolf Akibesh, and several students from Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschütz’s yeshiva. The house was inaugurated during the week containing Tisha B'Av in the year 5519 (1759); on Tisha B'Av itself, Eybeschütz and his circle recited the *Musaf* (Additional) prayer designated for festivals and held a celebratory meal, in accordance with Sabbatean custom. The Kabbalist from Podhajce delivered lessons on the *Zohar* at the Sabbatean study hall, attended by women and young men alike. The house featured a special room where Benjamin Wolf would commune in seclusion with the *Shechinah* (Divine Presence), as well as a gilded chair modeled after the Throne of Solomon. His followers referred to Benjamin Wolf as "Yimini," while the members of the group were known as "Bnei Meheimnuta" (Children of Faithfulness). He authored a treatise titled *Darga Yimini* ("The Rank of Yimini"), which detailed his spiritual levels and described conversations held with his disciples and associates from the celestial realm—dialogues in which he even revealed to them the secret of the Redemption.Yaakov Emden, *Hit'abkut*, Altona 1770. Second edition, Lwów 1877.
Benjamin Wolf lived extravagantly, creating the impression among those around him that he was a wealthy man of substantial means. He claimed that both he and his servant were skilled in alchemy and capable of transmuting base metals into gold; he also spread rumors regarding massive loans he had allegedly granted to King Frederick V of Denmark. On the strength of these claims, many of his followers entrusted their money to him, anticipating future profits.
The Sabbatean center—which operated almost openly within the heart of this prominent Jewish community—provoked the zealots of Altona to take action against it. In the month of Kislev, 5520 (1759), a young student of the Rabbi... Yehezkel Landau of Prague—author of the *Noda BiYehuda*—received a letter asking him to order the expulsion of Moshe David of Podhajce and Benjamin Wolf Eybeschütz from Altona. In his reply, Rabbi Landau stated that he indeed intended to instruct Rabbi [Jonathan Eybeschütz]] to expel Moshe David from the city; however, regarding the "ignorant, mad youth" Benjamin Wolf, Landau limited his action to warning him against continuing his study of Kabbalah. Rabbi Jacob Emden considered this response too conciliatory and harshly criticized Rabbi Landau. A similar appeal was sent to Rabbi Avraham Avish of Frankfurt, but it went unanswered.
In a letter to Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin, Rabbi Yonatan denied any connection between his son and the Sabbatean Kabbalist; he claimed that Binyamin Wolf had merely invited R. Moshe David to teach at a house-warming gathering—as was customary—and had paid him a fee "in the lavish manner typical of the patron's son." He also refuted allegations that women and young men were studying Kabbalah at his son's home, asserting that there were no Kabbalah students among the townspeople at all, and that the Kabbalist from Podhajce was not engaged in teaching others. He opposed the public expulsion of R. Moshe David from the city, arguing that, given the man's frail health, such a move would amount to a death sentence. This letter, along with other testimony, also sheds light on Rabbi Eybeschütz’s public stance regarding his son: he believed the young man indeed possessed supernatural powers, yet he remained uncertain whether they originated from a "source of holiness" or not.
Ultimately, in the months that followed, Eybeschütz and his circle left Altona, and the synagogue was closed. Binyamin Wolf himself, having become mired in debt, had already left the city during the month of Iyar; according to Emden, he had collected money and jewelry from his followers, promising to return with a vast fortune he had left in Moravia and to reveal himself as the Messiah the following Kislev. During the month of Elul, following testimony regarding the Sabbatean group taken before the rabbinical court, the leaders of the AHU communities—with the support of Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz—decided to renew the ban on the Sabbateans originally proclaimed by Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen in 1725;additionally, it was decided to close the Sabbatean synagogue and expel the group's members from the city. Despite his concurrence with the ban, Rabbi Eybeschutz provided "the pious man and Godly Kabbalist, R. Moshe David," with a letter of recommendation, asking his in-law to host him and pledging to guarantee payment for the stay.
Several years later, on the 7th of Tishrei 1765, Emden pronounced a ban in his synagogue against Benjamin Wolf and two of his brothers—approximately fifteen years after he had taken similar action against their father.
In Adar I 5521 (1761), a few months after leaving Altona, Benjamin Wolf was arrested in Holešov due to his substantial debts. His remaining assets in Altona were sold at auction during the intermediate days of Passover. Emden, who had come personally to view the house slated for sale, was shocked to discover, among the household goods, a statue of a nursing woman and a ceiling painting depicting bare-breasted women. He also found writings belonging to Benjamin Wolf and his acquaintances, some of which he later published. To assist his son in settling the debts, Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz hastened to print his book *Kereti u-Peleti* in 5523 (1763)—doing so before the work was even completed and without the customary approbations. This rushed printing resulted in errors in the book's page numbering.
Upon his release from custody, Benjamin Wolf left Moravia holding a Danish passport; according to some reports, he spent a brief period in Berlin among figures associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement, which was then in its infancy. He subsequently arrived in Vienna, where he cultivated connections with nobles and government officials, including Count Joseph von Blusa and Franz Joseph von Wurmbrand-Stuppach. In 1765, Franz was appointed Austrian ambassador to Dresden, Saxony, and Benjamin Wolf moved there with him, joining his older brothers who were already living in the city. In Dresden, he began working as an assistant to the Court Jew Joseph Jonas Meyer; consequently, in 1769, he received a license as a Court Jew (*Hoffaktor*) to Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony.
He continued to live in great opulence in Dresden, residing at the Buxberg Palace, which he adorned with sculptures and paintings by Adam Friedrich Oeser. The musical instrument maker Jakob Friedrich Grundmann and General Ludwig Ernst Benckendorff also lived in the palace. He hosted parties, attended operas, and purchased the Frischnitz estate near Dresden. At the same time, he engaged in commerce and amassed great wealth. In 1770, he received a license to trade in jewelry, and in 1773, his license was expanded to cover all types of trade. He even attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure the tobacco monopoly in Saxony. He maintained business ties with wealthy Jews, including Bernhard von Eskeles, Daniel Itzig, and the latter's son-in-law, Nathan Adam von Arnstein.