מקור השם אסקלס

Bernhard Berish Eskeles (1753-1839), financier and court Jew, born in Vienna, Austria, after the death of his father Bernhard Issachar Eskeles. When aged 16 he went to Amsterdam, Holland, where he bought himself into a business house, but within a year he lost the entire fortune of over 400,000 florins which had been left to him by his father. In 1774 he returned to Vienna and married Cecilia Itzig (1760-1836), a daughter of Daniel Itzig of Berlin.

He entered the business of his brother-in-law Nathan Arnstein. Together they established the banking-house of Arnstein and Eskeles, which became prominant during the Congress of Vienna in 1815. They were patrons of Mozart and also of Ignaz Moscheles who gave piano lessons to Cecilia. Eskeles's drawing-room was the rendezvous of men like Talleyrand, Wellington, Castlereagh, Hardenberg, and Theodor Körner. Eskeles's name is often mentioned in the memoirs of this time. After uncovering a banking forgery in 1795, he was entrusted with many financial tasks for The Imperial Court and his advice was frequently sought by Emperors Joseph II, and later by Francis II and I, who entrusted him with several important diplomatic missions to foreign countries. He was sent to Paris and Holland in 1810. In 1816 Eskeles founded the Austrian National Bank and remained its director for 23 years. He became a member of the Austrian nobility in 1797, became a knight in 1811, and was created a baron in 1822.

Eskeles took no great interest in Jewish affairs, although in 1815 he was one of the signatories on a petition for Jewish rights and was the only Austrian Jew to be invited to Napoleon's Sanhedrin of 1806. He was, however, the founder of several charitable institutions. He also established, with an initial contribution of 50,000 gulden, a fund for the maintenance of poor students. His two children both converted to Christianity.

יששכר ברוש אסקלס (1692 – 1753) רב. נולד באולקוש, פולין, שם שימש אביו רב. נישא לבתו של יהודי החצר שמשון ורטהיימר. בגיל 18 נתמנה לרב של קרומריץ ואז לרב של מיינץ, גרמניה, ולבסוף התיישב בווינה, אוסטריה, כספקה החצר של כלי נשק ועוד סחורות עבור השלטונות. אסקלס ירש את מקומו של אביו בתפקיד רב מורביה, ובשנת 1725 תפס את מקומו של חמיו כרב הראשי בהונגריה. ב- 1727 השיב בשלילה לשאלה של קהילה במורביה, האם מותר ליהודי להשתמש בתער גילוח. כשסכנת גירוש ממורביה (1742) ומבוהמיה (1745) איימה על היהודים, אסקלס התערב למענם בחצר המלכות, וצוי הגירוש בוטלו. בשנת 1753, זמן קצר לפני מותו, תרם 50,000 פלורינים ליסוד קרן מוהר לכלות עניות ולמימון לימוד תורה לילדים עניים.