MODEL, MARX

MODEL, MARX (d. 1709), court jew of ansbach . The Model family originated in oettingen in the 16th century and subsequently spread throughout bavaria . It included a number of rabbis and Court Jews, foremost of whom was Marx Model, who in 1676 inherited his father's position as military and court purveyor at the court of the Margrave of Ansbach. One of the earliest Court Jews to engage in economic ventures, Marx acquired a number of estates and farms, a paper mill, and a workshop making roof tiles. In 1691 he was freed from custom duties and was granted the right to be sole publisher of the Talmud in Ansbach. His eldest daughter married Wolf, son of samuel oppenheimer , the influential Austrian Court   Jew; Model served the latter as agent and supplier of silver for the mint and aided him in revoking an expulsion order against the Jews of Rothenburg. Model maintained his own synagogue and cantor in Ansbach. His unsuccessful attempt to unite the rival Jewish communities of fuerth was utilized by his rival elkan fraenkel , who undermined his position at court and subjected the Jews to a harsher rule. However, Fraenkel's triumph was short-lived; Model's sons inherited their father's position and intrigued to bring about the eventual fall of the Fraenkels. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Haenle, Geschichte der Juden im ehemaligen Fuerstenthum Ansbach (1867); L. Loewenstein, in: JJLG, 8 (1910), 131–4; L. Lamm, ibid., 22 (1932), 152–9: M. Grunwald, Samuel Oppenheimer (1913), 305; S. Stern, The Court Jew (1950), 100, 193; H. Schnee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat, 4 (1963), 27–28; D.J. Cohen, in: Koveẓ al Yad, 6 pt. 2 (1966), 470, 514–5.