The History of the Jews of Zemplen, Part 2: Homonna, Szerencs, and Varanno. The data that would be needed for writing the earliest history of the Homonna community are nonexistent: neither a registry book, nor documents, nor even a credible oral tradition. However, we know with great confidence that Jews have lived in Homonna and its vicinity for centuries, even if in small numbers. The existing writings show that, by the 1780-90 period, Homonna's Jewish population had grown to the point that it could support an organized congregation, which established a Hevra Kaddishah and constructed a new synagogue. This synagogue was built out of the ruins of the Roman Catholic church destroyed in the disastrous fire of 1793. The Jewish community bought the debris from Count Csaky Istvan and Count Van-Dernath Henrik, for two groats per wagon load. This transaction is recorded in a German language contract, which still exists. This synagogue had a thatched roof. Soon after, it was found to be too small, and a larger, more attractive one was built, whose construction was completed in 1796. [Translator's note: this is not a typo. It does seem hard to believe that two synagogues were built in the space of three years, but 1793 and 1796 are the dates given.] The Homonna congregation's oldest record book dates from the intermediate days of Passover in 1809. At this time, Propper Mor, the president, and Spira Jakab, the rabbi, decided that henceforth minutes would be kept of all meetings. An interesting entry from the 1821 minutes regards the collection of the meat tax [Aramaic "gabela"], which was farmed out for the weekly sum of 36 forints. A few weeks later, the tax farmer started agitating for a reduction. The congregation realized that he was losing money, and reduced his rent by 2 forints per week. In the first few weeks, the rent received by the congregation totalled 174 forints. Against this were the expenses: two weeks' salary for the rabbi, 12 forints; two weeks' pay for the cantor and the slaughterer, 20 forints; 4 forints for the assistant rabbi; 6 forints for salary previously owing to the rabbi; 14 forints for the rental of the kosher slaughterhouse; 32 forints for the guardian entrusted with helping the poor; rent to Count Van-Dernath for the synagogue's land, to the end of December 1822, 45 forints. Indeed, the 6 forint weekly salary received by the rabbi of Homonna represented progress. By contrast, we find 150 years earlier, in the records of Count Szirmay, that the only pay received by the rabbi at that time was the right to graze one cow on this landowner's meadow. The next rabbi, Fischel Horovitz, had an annual salary of 47 forints, but he did not receive it regularly. This we know from his letter to the congregation, demanding to be paid his 47 forints for the previous year, saying that he no longer knew from whom he should borrow next. Starting from 1835, the government record books related to the toleration tax and public works are in existence. In one of these record books, we find an entry indicating that the Jewish community paid 950 forints for the exemption of 10 men from the military draft. Until 1881, these record books were kept in German; only in July 1881 did they start keeping them in Hungarian. Among the Homonna Jewish community's institutions, the oldest is the above mentioned Hevra Kaddisah, which was founded in 1787. Besides this organization, there was a Talmud Tora association, founded in 1835, to assist with the education of poor children. A third organization was the "Godfathers' Association." Its goal was to assist poor families who could not find a godfather for a newborn child, since this position involves considerable expense. One of the association's members would be picked as godfather, with the expenses covered by the association. This association was found in 1820. The Szerencs Jewish community's oldest written record dates from 1809. This relates to the collection of donations for the construction of a prayer-house. The collection took six years, and achieved a total of 1060 forints and 80 kreuzers. At that time, Szerencs was not an independent congregation, but was a branch of the rabbinate of the district of Mad. It immediately began running its internal affairs, as is evident from a set of by-laws written in Hebrew in 1815. Under these by-laws there are eleven signatures, and the whole congregation hardly numbered more than this. The congregation was run by one warden (Gabai) and four board members. In 1846 they elected as president (Rosh HaKol) Engel Jozsef, who contributed to the development of the congregation. The Billitzer family gave him loyal assistance in developing the congregation. By 1854, the congregation had revenues of 585 forints against expenses of 574 forints. In 1860, the original by-laws were expanded. In 1873 the Szerencs congregation joined the national association of autonomous Orthodox congregations, accepting the regulations approved by the king [translator's note: the Austrian emperor was referred to in Hungary as the "King of Hungary," to imply that Hungary was not ruled by Austria] in 1871 for the Hungarian and Transsylvanian autonomous Orthodox Jews. At this time, the congregation became independent from the congregation of Mad. In 1875 the congregation established a school, with a teacher with diploma, expanded in 1881 to include a teacher of religion. At first, the school operated in rented premises, and has only had its own building since 1888. The growth in the community's population was strongly influenced by the construction of a sugar factory in Szerencs in 1891, which gave a boost to the city's business. In 1895, the synagogue proved too small and a separate prayer house was built. This did not come under the jurisdiction of the congregation, and it adopted the Sephardic prayer book [translator's note: used in this context, "Sephardic" refers to the Lurianic prayerbook, favoured by the Hassidim, and should not to be confused with the practice of Jews from North Africa.] In 1900, the civil authorities condemned the old synagogue as unsafe, and closed it down. For two years, the members held services in private homes, until the congregation could build a temporary wooden synagogue. In 1902, the Ministry of Religion and Education gave the Szerencs congregation a loan of 40,000 koronas from the teachers' pension fund, to be repaid over a term of 50 years, for the construction of an attractive new synagogue, which opened on August 6, 1903. As for the Varanno community, we know only by oral tradition that it has been in existence for about two centuries. In the existing Jewish cemetery, 150 year old gravestones can be seen, which attest to the community's considerable age. Varanno has had some famous rabbis, among the Lichtenstein Mozes and Spira Abraham, who led the congregation for 40 years. In addition, there were Schick David, Spira Zakarias, and Wechsler Soma. Among the congregations oldest institutions is the Hevra Kaddishah, whose by-laws date from the 1600s. The second institution was the Bikur Holim, whose by-laws were written 85 years ago by the famous Teitelbaum Mozes. Besides these two institutions there is a Crown Association ["Koronaegylet," a patriotic association?]. The congregation has a long history in the field of education. Before the existing state (formerly congregational) school came into existence, there was a public Jewish school with the regular three grades, in a building shared with the Roman Catholic congregation. This building had originally been designed as a hospital. However, in 1849 the city authorities decided it was more important to convert it to a school for the Jews and Catholics, and the two groups jointly renovated it for this purpose. The 1878 yearbook of the former school chronicles these events. Besides the present state school in Varanno, the Jewish congregation supports a Talmud Torah. The expenses of this are covered by an endowment of 5000 koronas made in January of 1888 by Stareich Izrael and his wife, and from tuition fees and a subsidy from the congregation. Translated by Peter Spiro. Note: Szerencs is a city south-west of Satoraljaujhely, and it is still in Hungary. Homonna and Varanno are now in Slovakia, and known as Humenne and Vranov. In 1900, the Jewish population of Homonna was 1,293, compared to 4,784 in Satoraljaujhely, while Varanno and Szerencs had under 1000. The other major community in Zemplen was Nagy- Mihaly (now Michalovce in Slovakia) with a Jewish population of 1,419, and it is odd that this history completely omits any mention of it. There were a few Jews found in Homonna, Varanno, Nagy-Mihaly and Szerencs already in the census of 1726. As early as 1698 (immediately after the expulsion of the Turks) Emperor Leopold I tried to organize a census, for the purpose of taxing the Jews. This is described by Erno Marton "as a complete failure" (in R. Braham, ed., Hungarian Jewish Studies, 1966, p. 31). One anecdote from this failed attempt reveals that there were already Jews in the area of Homonna at that time: "The commissioner Dominik, who was entrusted with the census of the Jews in the district of Homonna, complained that Count Peter Zichy hindered him in taking the census of Jews on his estates. Evidently, the aristocrats were not very enthusiastic about the idea that "their" Jews should also be burdened with heavy royal taxes."