JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

FALKOWITSCH, JOEL BAERISCH
it and received the support of the Goldsmid family. As a result
of this, or possibly of success in a lottery, he died in relatively
affluent circumstances, leaving a considerable legacy to
Jewish charities and an annual payment for the upkeep of the
chief rabbinate in London. Much light is thrown on his personality
and activities in the semi-literate diary of his henchman
Hirsch Kalish, preserved in manuscript in the Adler
Collection in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America,
N.Y.; one of his own kabbalistic notebooks is in the library of
the bet ha-midrash in London. Toward the end of his life, his
portrait was painted by the distinguished Anglo-American
artist John Copley. This is now frequently reproduced erroneously
as the portrait of the famous *Israel Ba’al Shem Tov,
founder of Ḥasidism.
Bibliography: C. Roth, Essays and Portraits in Anglo-Jewish
History (1962), 139–64; idem., Mag Bibl, 124–5; Wirszubski, in:
Zion, 7 (1942), 73–93.
[Cecil Roth]
FALKOWITSCH, JOEL BAERISCH (19 th century), Hebrew
and Yiddish essayist. Falkowitsch was born in Dubno
and lived in Odessa. In addition to a free Hebrew translation
of Lessing’s Philotas under the title Amminadav (1868),
he published two successfully produced plays in Yiddish:
Reb Khayml der Kotsin (“Reb Khayml the Judge,” 1866) and
Rokhele di Zingerin (“Rokhele the Singer,” 1868). Although
baptized a few years before his death, he remained well disposed
to Judaism. Falkowitsch appeared at blood-libel trials
where he argued against the antisemitic charges. When anti-
Jewish attacks appeared in the Warsaw Russian newspaper,
Varshavsky Dnevnik, he wrote a defense in German, called
Wort zur Zeit (“A Timely Word,” Hebrew transl. “Davar be-
Itto” in the weekly Ha-Kol (1877), 8–21).
Bibliography: Ha-Boker-Or, 4 (1879), 844; S. Wiener, Kohelet
Moshe (1893–1936), 3 no. 25; Zeitlin, Bibliotheca, 81, 467; Rejzen,
Leksikon, 3 (1929), 13–16.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann / Marc Miller (2nd ed.)]
FALL, LEO (1873–1925), composer. Born in Olomouc, Moravia,
Fall, the son of a military bandmaster, was educated at
the Vienna Conservatory and served as a theater conductor.
His first three successful operettas, Der fidele Bauer (1907),
Die Dollarprinzessin (1907), and Die geschiedene Frau (1908),
placed him among the masters of the “second period of the operetta,”
with Franz Lehar and Oscar *Straus. His most popular
works were Die Rose von Stambul (1916) and Madame Pompadour
(1922). Fall’s music was distinguished for its charm of
melody and clever orchestration.
FALL RIVER, city in S.E. Massachusetts near Rhode Island
border. The Jewish population of Fall River has been declining
for the past 35 years and now numbers less than 1,000, a
decrease from the 1970 population of 4,000 Jews. Attracted
by the early cotton-manufacturing industries, the first Jews
settled in Fall River during the 1860s and 1870s. Formal reli-
gious services were first held in 1874. These first settlers were
German Jews; the community and its religious, social, and
welfare institutions were soon changed considerably by the influx
of Russian immigrants in the 1880s and 1890s. Two of the
three congregations serving the community in 1970 – American
Brothers of Israel and Congregation Adas Israel – were
established in this era. Adas Israel, originally the Adas Israel
Society, was founded in 1885; dissidents from Adas Israel established
the American Brothers of Israel about 1892. At the
beginning of the 20th century a third synagogue, Aguda B’nai
Jacob, was founded. Abraham Lipshitz began ministering
to these three congregations, which made up the Orthodox
community, about 1910, serving them for over 30 years. In
the decade 1910–20 Congregation Beth David was founded,
Hebrew schools were established, and in 1924 a Conservative
synagogue, Temple Beth El, was founded. Morton Goldberg
served the congregation from 1925 to 1937, when Jacob Freedman
replaced him as spiritual leader. Rabbi Freedman helped
found the Fall River Jewish Community Council (1938), which
in 1970 included about 25 societies and organizations. The
other major communal institution is the Fall River United
Jewish Appeal.
Jews prominent in Fall River life have included David L.
Gourse, clothier and commissioner of public welfare; Albert
Rubin, a state legislator for many years; H. William Radovsky,
finance commissioner; and Rabbi Samuel Ruderman, long
considered the spokesman for the Jewish community. David
H. Radovsky and Moses Entin both played important roles
in fraternal organizations and in the Zionist movement. Two
nationally known businessmen and philanthropists, Jacob
Ziskind and Albert A. List, were from Fall River. Another
resident, Dr. Irving Fradkin, inaugurated Dollars for Scholars,
an educational funding program which has been adopted by
communities throughout the United States.
From their arrival in Fall River, Jews were involved in
peddling and in operating small retail establishments. Many
Jewish-owned businesses suffered as a result of the 1904 textile
strike. Later, large furniture and retail clothing stores were established,
and Jews engaged in finance and in operating textile
mills. Although textile production has decreased, many Jews
are involved in garment contracting; others are professionals,
small retailers, and landlords. The declining Jewish population
in Fall River can be attributed to a high rate of intermarriage
as well as to increased social and physical mobility; Somerset
and Highlands are new areas of Jewish residence.
[Bernard Wax]
FALTICENI (Rom. Fălticeni), town in Moldavia, N.E. Romania.
The first Jews settled there between 1772 and 1774, and an
organized community existed from 1780, when the town was
officially founded under the name of Şoldăneşti, later changed
to Fălticeni, as a commercial center between Austrian Bukovina
and Moldavia. In 1781 the landowner permitted the building
of a synagogue in the form of a regular house and put a
plot for a cemetery at the disposal of the community. Many
688 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6