This is a two-page notice for singles looking for a marriage partner. It contains an introduction by Binyamin (Beni) Friedman, the author and initiator, and an anonymous list of people looking for a match, in which they describe themselves and what they are looking for in a partner. Each of these people has been given a “sign” with which to describe themselves. It is unclear whether this notice was handed out in public, printed as part of a publication, or posted around the town. It is written in Yiddish and printed mostly in script resembling Rashi script (tsur).
The notice describes the wedding candidates according to the following criteria: financial situation, dowry status, specifications of prospective partners, profession, age, physical appearance, religious status, lineage, and personality traits. It seems to have been aimed at the Orthodox community.
The author of this notice was Beni or Rabbi Binyamin Friedman. Friedman was born in 1896 in Nyíregyháza and later moved to Miskolc, both in Hungary. A member of the Sephardi community of Miskolc, he married, had children, and was a learned man who wrote a number of commentaries on Jewish texts. He also owned a printing press, where this announcement was printed. Friedman was killed in the Holocaust, but some of his children survived and live in America and Israel. They have reprinted some of his commentaries which are available at the National Library of Israel.
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Miskolc - Miskolc, situated in northeast Hungary, is the fourth largest city in Hungary. The Jewish community in Miskolc dates back to the eighteenth century, with Jews originally arriving in the city for trade fairs. In the nineteenth century, after laws regarding Jewish settlement in the city were abandoned, the community grew, and a synagogue, burial society (chevra kadisha), and cemetery were established. By the beginning of the twentieth century the Jewish community in Miskolc numbered around 10,000. Most of the Jews of Miskolc worked in commerce as innkeepers and artisans; its first commercial bank was co-founded by a Jew. Miskolc was home to a one of the most developed Jewish education systems in Hungary and included three yeshivas, three Talmud Torah schools, two elementary schools, a girls’ high school, vocational schools, and a teacher training seminary for Jewish women and served more than 1,600 Jewish students.
During the Holocaust, many Jewish men from Miskloc were conscripted for forced labour, while others were sent to fight in Ukraine. On March 19, 1944, all of Miskolc’s Jews were deported to Auschwitz, out of whom only 400 survived. After the war, Miskolc became an important transit centre for the survivors. The Jewish elementary school was reopened and functioned until 1948. By 1970, however, the community was left with only 300 members, mainly due to emigration.
