Letter to His Son

Barukh belonged to a large family in Prague whose name, Reiniger, means “porger” (Heb. menaker), which refers to an expert in removing the sciatic nerve and other halakhically forbidden parts of a properly slaughtered kosher animal. Barukh’s daughter Traune was engaged to a man whose family were also kosher butchers. Barukh’s plea that his son-in-law in Vienna, addressed in this letter, lend him money for Traune’s dowry shows that this profession did not necessarily guarantee financial stability.