Eulogy on the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf (1853-1889) by Rabbi Moritz Loewy in the synagogue in Temesvar on February 11, 1889. The Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia (21 August 1858 - 30 January 1889) was the son and heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy rumors and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy.

The reform rabbi Moritz Lowy became rabbi of Temesvar in the mid-1860ties. Since 1860, however, internal dissensions had divided the community into factions, with the Reform rabbi, Moritz Lowy, at the head of the one in the city, and the Orthodox rabbi, Jakob Singer, leading that in the citadel Timi~oara or Temesvar, is a city in the Banat, Transylvania, today West Romania. Between 1552 and 1716 it was an important center of the Turkish administration; subsequently within Austria-Hungary until 1918. When under direct Austrian rule the situation of the Jews in Temesvar was more difficult than in any other part of Hungary. Maria Theresia's Jewish legislation (Judenordnung) of 1776 for Jews in the Banat region placed many restrictions on the Jews of Temesvar. Only forty-nine were permitted to reside in the city. It was not until the reign of Joseph II. (1780-90) that the condition of the Jews of Temesvar began to improve. The earliest Jewish census at Temesvar was taken in 1739, when there were 139 Ashkenazim and 81 Sephardim (46 families altogether). In 1755 there were 23 Jewish families in the city; 72 in 1781. In 1840 the Jewish population of the city was about 1,200. In 1858 the number was 2,202; in 1890,4,870; and in 1901, 5,788 (including Jewish soldiers, 5,916). The total population of Temesvar around 1900 was 53,033.