Tradesman - Nathan Bendheim

Nathan Bendheim was born around 1817. He was probably a successful merchant. In an obituary to Nathan Bendheim it says: "By trade and change in the manner and method of his co-religionists, especially also by considerable deliveries in the war years 1866 and 1870 he had gained a significant fortune and belonged to the local and Bergsträßer financial giants."The local Lutheran pastor also writes about the "long-time leader of the Jewish community, Mr. Nathan Bendheim" in his chronicle:  "On March 23, 1875, the long-time leader of the Jewish community, Mr. Nathan Bendheim, died. He was a man of much lifestyle and a very tender father towards his many well-bred daughters.... When he was buried, a large cortege had gathered at his house  and also the writer of this paper accompanied the deceased on his last way to the Bickenbach Jewish cemetery until at Auerbach's last house. During his painful illness (he suffered from liver disease), I also visited him, since I had been in friendly contact with him for almost 25 years and in earlier years, when he still ran a large economy, I often sold him the yield of the parish meadow on the railroad pasture, in which he always behaved decently. A few days before his end he said to me with a grateful handshake 'Father, you have always appreciated and loved Israel'. And I still do, of course; for `salvation came from the Jews `." According to the information on the gravestone, Nathan Bendheim died on April 14, 1875. He is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Alsbach.