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Two sermons delivered during Passover of 5646 (1886) by R. Dr. Moritz Löwy (1849-1908), a Rabbi, and an expert on Joseph ibn Aknin, the famous student of Maimonides. R. Dr. Löwy was the Rabbi of the Israelitische Religions-Gemeinde in Temesvár [Timisoara]-- city in the Banat, Transylvania, W. Rumania. Between 1552 and 1716 it was an important center of the Turkish administration; subsequently within Hungary until 1918. The city comprises several quarters, whose individual development is still evident and affected the history of the local Jews who established separate communal organizations in them. The first Jews arrived in Timisoara before the Turkish conquest by the trade route between Turkey and Central Europe. At first they came temporarily, on business, but by the first half of the 16th century there were permanent Jewish settlers. The oldest tombstone in the Jewish cemetery dates from 1636 commemorating the "rabbi and surgeon" Azriel Asael. The beginnings of communal organization date from that era. When the Austrians captured the city from the Turks in 1716, the peace treaty included a provision permitting the Jews there to choose either to retreat with the Turks or to remain under the Austrians. Some chose to remain. There were then about 12 Turkish-Sephardi families. In 1736 R. Meir Amigo of Constantinople and four other Sephardi Jews were authorized to settle in the city. Amigo organized communal life and did much to help the Jews of Timisoara. As the economic situation of Timisoara began to improve, Jews were attracted to the city from other parts of Hungary and as far away as Austria and Moravia. They mainly engaged in commerce.
When under direct Austrian rule, however, the situation of the Jews in Timisoara was more difficult than in any other part of Hungary. The Jewish legislation (Judenordnung) of 1776 for Jews in the Banat region placed in many restrictions on the Jews of Timisoara but their situation improved when the region was returned to Hungary in 1779.
Two synagogues, one Sephardi and one Ashkenazi, were built in 1762. The Sephardi congregation continued to exist independently until after World War II. A magnificent synagogue was erected for the main Ashkenazi congregation in 1862. After the Hungarian General Jewish Congress of 1868–69, the community of Timisoara declared itself Neologist. A separate Orthodox congregation was formed in 1871. An Orthodox synagogue was built in 1895. After World War II the congregations were unified by government order.
The Jewish population numbered 155 in 1716; 220 in 1739; 72 families in 1781; 1,200 persons in 1840; 2,202 in 1858; 4,870 (c. 15% of the total population) in 1890; 6,728 (9.2%) in 1910; and 9,368 (10%) in 1930.
In general, the Jews of Timisoara were well-to-do and were able to finance ample communal activities. A ramified educational network was established. Efforts were made to found a Jewish school in 1825. Two schools were opened in different quarters of the city in the 1840s. Between the two world wars, under Rumanian administration, two Jewish high schools were established, one general and one commercial. The language of instruction was Rumanian, although Hebrew was also taught. The Jews continued to speak Hungarian and German in Timisoara, where German culture was more widespread than in the other towns of Transylvania.
Throughout the period between the two world wars the community suffered from anti-Semitism. In 1936 the Iron Guard attacked a Jewish theater audience, exploding a bomb in their midst; two Jews were killed and many were wounded.
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