The Leiman Library
Bookstamp of Rev. Samuel Widom
| Text of Stamp: | ש”ץ ושו”ב שמואל ב”ר צבי ווידאמליאנסקי |
| Notice the artistic logo between the abbreviations ש”ץ and ושו”ב. A tuning fork (representing ש”ץ) and slaughtering knife (representing שו”ב) support each other and graphically represent what Rev. Widom did best. | |
| Stamp Appears in: | כתבי הקדש: נביאים וכתובים עם פירוש ר’ מאיר ליבוש מלבי”ם (כרך שמיני: תהלים ומשלי) (Vilna, 1891), TP. |
| Subject: | Samuel Widom was born in 1872 as Samuel Widomliansky, in or near Kamenetz-Litovsk in Russia (today: Belarus). He married and resided in the nearby town of Liskov, where his first children were born. Upon emigrating to the U.S. in 1905, he shortened his name to: Widom. From 1906-1924 he served as Reverend or Rabbi or Cantor (all three titles occur in the periodical literature published during his lifetime) of Homestead Hebrew Congregation Rodef Sholom in Homestead, PA, and also as the Jewish community’s ritual slaughterer of chickens. No rabbi has served longer than Widom in the history of rabbis of Homestead, no small accomplishment. It was certainly not an easy task to serve as rabbi, cantor, teacher, and kosher slaughterer of chickens, in a diverse Jewish community that was confronting modernity – and not always pleased with the rabbi’s seemingly old-fashioned ways. See the insightful essays by Tammy Hepps (listed below in: Bibliography) that capture the vicissitudes and tensions that accompanied Widom throughout much of his tenture as Reverend. He died in 1924 at age 52.
The bookstamp clearly belongs to an early stage in Widom’s career, when he still went under the name Widomliansky. In the volume with the bookstamp, Widom entered the dates of birth of his older children, born in Europe. The volume travelled with Widom to Homestead, as it includes at the bottom of the title page a later bookstamp, which appears as follows: |
| Text of Stamp: | Rev. S. Widom No. 513 Short Street Homestead, PA |
Photos:
Rev. Samuel Widom
(courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center)
Matzevah of Rev. Samuel Widom
(courtesy of Tammy Hepps)
Text of Matzevah:
פ”נ
רבנו הקדוש הגאון
ר’ שמואל ב”ר צבי ווידאם זצ”ל
מורה ש”צ ושו”ב לקהילת
רודף שלום בהאמסטעד
שמונה עשרה שנה
נפטר י”ג תשרי תרפ”ה ק’
נ”ב שנה לימי חייו
‘ת’נ’צ’ב’ה
Obverse of Matzevah:
Rev. Samuel Widom
1872-1924
Notice that just as Rev. Samuel Widom identified himself on his original bookstamp as ש”ץ and שו”ב, so too on line 3 of his Hebrew epitaph, he is identified by the Jewish community of Homestead as ש”ץ and שו”ב (with the addition of the title מורה).
Bibliography:
Tammy Hepps, “Rabbi Samuel Widom” (August 8, 2014) at https://homesteadhebrews.com/people/rabbi-samuel-widom/
Tammy Hepps, “When Rev. Widom’s Term Expired” (October 21, 2014) at https://homesteadhebrews.com/articles/when-rev-widoms-term-expired/
Tammy Hepps, “Winkler and Widom Reelection Articles” at https://homesteadhebrews.com/documents/winkler-and-widom-reelection-articles/
Anonymous, “Gravestone of Rev. Samuel Widom” at https://cemomemo.kinneret.ac.il/grave/10449