Engelberg, Ḥayyim of
ENGELBERG, ḤAYYIM OF
ENGELBERG, ḤAYYIM OF (Ferdinand Franz Engel-berger ; d. 1642), apostate who converted to Christianity in 1636 to evade the penalty for stealing. After publishing a missionary pamphlet, he went to Vienna where he won the favor of *Ferdinand iii. When he and two Jewish accomplices were caught pilfering gems from the treasury and sentenced to death, he assumed that the emperor would pardon him and accepted the last sacraments peacefully. Becoming aware that the sentence was to be carried out, he smashed a crucifix, rejected Christianity, and asked to die a Jew, also announcing that he had desecrated the *Host. This admission spurred the mob to kill a number of Jews and plunder their homes. After being tortured and maimed, Ḥayyim was burned at the stake on the Sabbath, Aug. 26, 1642, and was heard mumbling: "May my death be my atonement." The incident was commemorated on two marble tablets in Vienna. His wife and children, whom he had persuaded to accept baptism, escaped to Poland and reverted to Judaism.
bibliography:
D. Kaufmann, Die letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien (1889), 36–38; H. Gold, Geschichte der Juden in Wien (1966), 18–19; Glanz, in: jsos, 5 (1943), 8–9; Baron, 14 (1969), 239f., 392.