19 July 1892, Tuesday

Drohobych. Bruno Schulz is circumcised.

According to the principles of Judaism, on the eighth day after the birth*, the son of Jacob* and Henrietta* Schulz is circumcised. Although many memories mention that Bruno Schulz was weak, frail and sickly1, the ceremony takes place at the earliest possible date and is not postponed for medical reasons2. Circumcision is performed by Samuel Kupferberg (lime merchant) – the same who also circumcised the older son of the Schulz family, Isidor*3. Private teachers, Dawid Wolf Roller and Abraham Singer5, take part in the ceremony as kvaters (godfathers)4.

During the ceremony, the boy is given the name Bruno. Jerzy Ficowski* provided two interpretations of the origin of Schulz’s name. Initially, he wrote that it was the name of his grandfather6, and later that it was the name that appears on the calendar under the date of Schulz’s birth7. Both of these interpretations are plausible. In Jewish culture, it is customary to name a child after his grandfather8. With the intensification of assimilation processes among Jews, a tendency began to use non-Jewish names that would not distinguish those bearing them so much. Often these persons had an official traditional Jewish name and sounded similar non-Jewish name9, used in everyday life.

Bruno Schulz’s maternal grandfather’s name was Berisch. His grandson was given a similarly sounding name Bruno. It is noteworthy that Berisch’s older grandson, who used the name Isidor throughout his life, was entered in the record book under the names of Baruch Israel. The first is similar in sound to the grandfather’s name, but comes from the Jewish tradition. The younger brother has only received a name from the circle of Western culture, in addition, the name of the patron saint of the day of birth (which may be surprising if we are talking about a Jewish family). This probably proves how quickly, between the birth of Isidore and the birth of Bruno, the assimilation of the Schulz family proceeded. (mr) (transl. ms)

  • 1
    See for example Michał Chajes’s letter to Jerzy Ficowski from 7 June 1948. Jerzy Ficowski’s Archive. The Ossolineum Collections.
  • 2
    As Rabbi Simon Philip De Vries writes: “If the child, according to the doctor’s opinion, is still too delicate: if the color of the skin is different than it should be, if there are any problems with circulation or any other indications for a certain delay then circumcision is postponed until the time the doctor deems appropriate” (Obrzędy i symbole Żydów, przekład z niderlandzkiego i opracowanie Andrzej Borowski, Kraków 1999, p. 256).
  • 3
    It was considered appropriate to ask the same person who had circumcised the firstborn to have other sons circumcised (ibidem, p. 261). Summoning another mohel was considered an insult.
  • 4
    A kvater is, according to the tradition of Ashkenazi Jews, a person who, during a circumcision ceremony, picks up a child from his parents and hands it over to a mohel (who performs circumcision). Often the function of kvaters and kvaterins was performed by childless couples who believed that thanks to this they would have children. See Renata Piątkowska and Hanna Węgrzynek entry “Brit-mila, obrzezanie” in: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/brit-mila-obrzezanie (Accessed 23 March 2020).
  • 5
    Jerzy Ficowski read the witnesses names as Dawid Wolf Roller and Abraham Singer (Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice. Bruno Schulz i jego mitologia, Sejny 2002, p. 127). In turn, Anna Kaszuba-Dębska read them as Dawid Wolff Poller and Abraham Singer (Kobiety i Schulz, Gdańsk 2015, p. 313). In an article titled “Nietypowy akt urodzenia Brunona Schulza”, published on the More Maiorum. Kwartalnik Genealogiczny website, Alan Jakman reads them as Dawid Wolf Rollet i Abraham Lesser (http://www.moremaiorum.pl/123-lata-temu-urodzil-sie-bruno-schulz-skan-aktu-urodzenia/ (Accessed 23 March 2020)).
  • 6
    Jerzy Ficowski, Regiony wielkiej herezji. Szkice o życiu i twórczości Brunona Schulza, Kraków 1967, p. 18; idem, Regiony wielkiej herezji. Szkice o życiu i twórczości Brunona Schulza, Kraków 1975, p. 19.
  • 7
    Idem, Regiony wielkiej herezji. Rzecz o Brunonie Schulzu, Warszawa 1992, p. 15; idem, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice…, p. 19.
  • 8
    See Anna Landau-Czajka, Syn będzie Lech… Asymilacja Żydów w Polsce międzywojennej, Warszawa 2006, pp. 231–232; see also Jerzy Ficowski, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice..., p. 127.
  • 9
    As Agnieszka Jagodzińska writes, “Two aspects [of the name in Jewish culture] are the sacred and the profane, in which the shem ha-kodesh (holy name) and kinnui (secular name) functioned respectively” (Pomiędzy. Akulturacja Żydów Warszawy w drugiej połowie XIX wieku, Wrocław 2008, p. 221). The holy name was usually used in synagogues and at funerals. It was of biblical or post-biblical origin. The secular name may have come from other languages. In the case of women, there was no such distinction as they did not have access to the sacred realm. In the nineteenth century, Jews tried to strive for the Polonisation of kinnui, and in the second half of the nineteenth century, Polonisation even took place in the sphere of shem ha-kodesh.