Schulklopfer
A schulklopfer (or shulklopfer; Template:Etymology[1]) is the person who calls a Jewish community to prayer in the local synagogue.[2][3]
The schulklopfer was usually a beadle, who would perform the task by wandering around the community, knocking on each household's door early in the morning.[2] In Neustadt, he would knock four times. Israel Isserlein, a rabbi from Neustadt, argued that this pattern encoded the biblical phrase "I shall come to thee and bless thee"[4][2] In the Rhine, the custom was to strike thrice.[2]
In mediaeval Eastern Europe, the schulklopfer also had the role of individually inviting people to marriage ceremonies (nissuin); the invitations were made to the entire community by the schulklopfer on the morning of the marriage ceremony itself (such ceremonies were usually an evening affair).[5]
The name stems from the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) in the Middle Ages.[2] Christians in nearby communities sometimes referred to schulklopfers as campanatores (a Latin term meaning bell-strikers) or as Glöckner (German for bell-striker).[2]
See also
References
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External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia: "Schulklopfer" by Cyrus Adler and Max Seligsohn (1906)