WEISS Origin of surname

Yaakov Weiss (1924-1947), underground fighter, born in Nove Zamky, Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia). He joined the local branch of the Betar youth movement when he was ten. In 1945 he tried to enter Eretz Israel illegally, was caught by the British and interned in the camp at Atlit. On his release he joined the underground movement, Irgun Tzevai Leummi (Etzel), and participated in many of its operations. He was captured in such an operation - trying to break into Acre prison to release Irgun prisoners - and was executed by the British.

Aaron Wise (1844-1896), rabbi, born in Eger, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He was the son of Joseph Hirsch Weiss, chief rabbi of Eger, and the father of Otto Irving Wise, a lawyer of San Francisco, and of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York.

After having completed his education at the Eisenstadt Talmudical academy and the Universities of Leipzig and Halle in Germany, he was for several years director of schools in Eger. In 1873 he immigrated to the United States, where he became rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation in Brooklyn. In 1875 he received a call to Temple Rodeph Sholom in New York City, where he served exactly twenty-one years until his death.

Wise was one of the founders of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the first vice-president of its advisory board. Wise founded the Rodeph Sholom Sisterhood of Personal Service, which later established the Aaron Wise Industrial School in his memory.

He was an editor for some years of the Jewish Harold and the "Boston Hebrew Observer", wrote a religious school textbook and "Beth Aaron", a prayer-book in English. Wise also assisted in the revision of Buxtorf's Hebrew lexicon. He died in New York.

Yosef Meir Weiss (Joseph Meir) (Spinker Rebbe, aka Imrei Yosef after his major work) (1838-1909), rabbi and author, born in Munkacs, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Mukachevo, in Ukraine), where his father, Samuel Zevi, was head of a yeshivah. He studied under his uncle, Yizhak Izak Weiss, in the small town of Svalyava (now in Ukraine); later at the yeshivah of Meir Eisenstadt and his son in Ungvar (Uzhorod, Ukraine); and subsequently in the yeshivah of Shmelkel Klein in Nagyszollos (now Vynohradiv, Ukraine). After his marriage he was head of a yeshivah in Borsa (now in Romania). On the death of his wife he returned to his parents' home in Munkacs. After his remarriage he stayed with his father-in-law.

Later he became an adherent of his uncle, the Hasidic rabbi, Isaac Izak Eichenstein of Zydaczow, whom he regarded as his teacher in Kabbalah and with whom he remained for a period. The Eichenstein dynasty of hasidic rabbis held their court at Zydaczow, founded by Tsevi Hirsch Eichenstein (died 1831). After Isaac Izac Eichenstein's death, many considered Weiss his successor and he had many disciples. He went on to found the dynasty of Spinka (Sapanta, in Romania) which combines the characteristics of the schools of Zydaczow and Zanz.

He was the subject of many legends. Weiss wrote a work on the Torah. He also published Likkutei Torah ve-ha-Shas of his teacher and uncle, Yizhak Izak of Zydaczov.

Samson Weiss (1910-1990), rabbi, born in Emden, Germany. He was ordained rabbi at Mir yeshiva. He headed the Hebrew department of the Jewish teachers' college in Wuerzburg before moving to the United States in 1938. In the US he taught at the Ner Israel yeshiva in Baltimore (1938-40), directed Yeshivath Beth Yehudah in Detroit (1941-44) and was rabbi of Congregation Orach Chaim in New York from 1944. He organized Torah Umesorah, a national association for the promotion of Hebrew day schools. From 1947 he directed the National Council of Young Israel and from 1956 was executive vice-president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in America. In 1972 Weiss settled in Israel.

William Weiss (1887-1958), lawyer, born in Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He emigrated to the United States as a nine-year old child, and became a citizen six years later due to his father's naturalization. After receiving his professional training at Brooklyn Law School (LL.B., 1908) and at New York Law School (LL.M., 1909) he was admitted to the New York bar and the American Bar Association.

In 1916 he was made a candidate for the state senate on the Republican and Progressive ticket. From 1916 to 1922 he served as chairman of the local school board in New York City. Weiss played a prominent role in Orthodox Jewish life in the United States. He served as national president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in America from 1833 to 1942; member of the executive committee of the Mizrachi Organization; trustee of Yeshivah College; honorary secretary of the Yeshiva Ohel Torah; and as managing editor of the national monthly “Orthodox Union”.

In addition, Weiss served also as general counsel of the Independent Order Brith Abraham; member of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee and of the administrative committee of the American Jewish Congress; chairman of the board of governors of the Council of Fraternal and Benevolent Organization of New York; trustee of the Jewish Memorial Hospital; and officer and member of several other communal and philanthropic institutions and societies.

Weiss was Editor Member of the American Bar association, New York County Lawyers Association (legislative and workmen’s compensation coms.), Grand St. Boys Association Past consul Modern Woodmen American.

Abraham Weiss (1895-1970), talmudist, born in Pidhaytsi (Podhajce), Ukraine (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied in Vienna at the University and the Rabbinical Seminary where he was ordained. He taught Talmud at the Institute for Jewish Science in Warsaw, 1928-40, and at Yeshiva University, New York. In 1967 he moved to Israel and lectured at Bar-Ilan University. In 1935-40, he was vice-president of the Mizrachi Organization in Poland. His scholarly writings center around the history and development of the Talmud which pioneered new directions of research in the study of Talmudic history and law.

Alfonz Weiss de Csepel (1890-1985), industrialist, born in Budapest, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He was a son of Manfred Weiss de Csepel, one of founders and owners of the first canning and later armaments factory in Hungary. Alfonz headed the Manfred Weiss Works and its welfare institutions after his father's death. During World War II  the works were turned to the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, and were the object of disastrous bombing attacks by the Soviet Air Force in 1942. Weiss was associate president of the Jewish Agricultural and Trade Association and an honorary member of the Assembly of the Jewish Community of Pest. In 1940 his wife headed an organization which was created to protect Jewish families against the destructive effects of the anti-Jewish laws in Hungary.

Berthold de Csepel Weiss (1845-1915), economist and industrialist, born in Pest, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). In 1876 he became a member of the court of arbitration of the Budapest merchandise and stock exchange. From 1880 he played a significant role in the heavy industry in Hungary, and was among the founders of the local railway system. In the 1880s, together with his brother Manfred, he founded various crucial industries, including the first factory for canned goods in Hungary and the metal and ammunition works at Csepel (a district of Budapest), which later developed into the largest of the kind in Austria-Hungary. He also helped to reorganize several armament works in Hungary, and founded a shipyard and wool industries.

Berthold Weiss was honorary president of the Lloyd Association of Pest, and active in the city government of the Hungarian capital. He influenced Hungarian legislation regarding industrial activities. In 1903 he was made a councilor at the royal court.

He published: “Kereskedelmi hoditasok” ("Commercial Conquests", 1886, also in German); “Budapest erdekei es a keleti vasut” (The Interests of Budapest and the Eastern Railway, 1887); “Az osztrak-magyar bank uj alapszabalyai” ("The New basic Rules of the Austrian-Hungarian Bank". 1898), and “Takarekpenztaraink reformja” ("The Reforms of our Saving Banks", 1899).

Manfred Weiss de Csepel (1857-1922), industrialist, born in Pest, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Budapest in Hungary). Weiss - together with his brother, Berthold - founded the first canning factory in Hungary. This was later converted into the armaments factory at Csepel. It could supply all the armaments needs of the Hapsburg Empire and during World War I had 8,000 workers. After the War, Weiss manufactured household appliances, agricultural machinery and motorcars. He founded the National Union of Hungarian Industrialists and was also active in the Jewish community.

Isaac Jacob Weiss (1902-1989), rabbinical scholar, born in Dolina, Ukraine (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied at various yeshivot before being appointed head of the Munkacs yeshivah when still only 20. In 1929 he became dayan of the community of Oradea, Romania. During World War II he found refuge in southern Romania and afterward returned to Oradea, helping to rehabilitate the community. In 1949 Weiss moved to England as senior dayan in Manchester. By now he had a widespread reputation as a halakhist and volumes of his responsa, Minhat Yitshak, appeared. In 1968 Weiss settled in Jerusalem as head of the bet din of the Edah Haredit (the ultra-Orthodox community).

Harry Houdini (1874-1926), magician and escapologis, stunt performer and actor noted for his sensational escape acts, born in Hungary as Erik Weisz. His father, Rabbi Mayer Weisz, brought him to the USA in 1878, where Rabbi Weisz was appointed rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation at Appleton, Wisconsin. As a child, Ehrich Weiss took several jobs, making his public debut as a 9-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air". He was also a champion cross country runner in his youth.

Weiss became a professional magician and began calling himself Harry Houdini because he had been influenced by French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, and his thought that the name Houdini meant "like Houdin”. Houdini began his magic career in 1891. He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "The Wild Man" at a circus. Houdini focused initially on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards". But he soon began experimenting with escape acts.

Houdini's "big break" came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck who advised him to concentrate on escape acts and booked him on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900 he gave a demonstration of escape from handcuffs at Scotland Yard, and succeeded in baffling the police so effectively that he was booked at the Alhambra Theatre for six months. Houdini became widely known as "The Handcuff King." He toured England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia. In each city, Houdini would challenge local police to restrain him with shackles and lock him in their jails. From 1907 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini performed with great success in the United States. He would free himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope in plain sight of street audiences. In 1908, Houdini began escaping from a locked, water-filled milk can. Houdini also expanded repertoire with his escape challenge act, in which he invited the public to devise contraptions to hold him. These included nailed packing crates (sometimes lowered into water), riveted boilers, wet-sheets, mailbags, and even the belly of a whale that had washed ashore in Boston. In 1912, Houdini introduced perhaps his most famous act, the Chinese Water Torture Cell, in which he was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full to overflowing with water. The act required that Houdini hold his breath for more than three minutes. Houdini performed the escape for the rest of his career. For many years, he was the highest-paid performer in American vaudeville. One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions was performed at New York's Hippodrome Theater, when he vanished a full-grown elephant (with its trainer) from the stage, beneath which was a swimming pool.

Samuel Weiss (1885-1966), physician, born in Kaszony, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Kosyny in Ukraine). He received his medical degree from Long Island College Hospital (1907), and specialized in gastroenterology. In 1927 he was appointed professor and in 1936 staff executive of the gastroenterology department of the New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital.

Weiss made many contributions to the field of gastrointestinal diseases and was a delegate to several international conferences. In 1932, he was among the founders of the American College of Gastroenterology, based in Bethesda, Maryland. Weiss was editor-in-chief of "The American Journal of Gastroenterology". He was a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. In his honor an award named after him is given periodically to outstanding physicians in gastroenterology.

Weiss' published works include "Diseases of the Liver, Gallbladder, Ducts and Pancreas" (1935); "Clinical Lectures on Gastroenterology" (1936); and "Compendium of Clinical and Laboratory Methods and Their Interpretation in Gastroenterology and Biliary Tract Disease" (1936). He was also editor of "The Review of Gastroenterology".

Weiss was a Fellow of American College of Physicians, and member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York Academy Gastroenterology, American College Gastroenterology (founder, trustee), American Public Health Association, National, International gastroenterological associations, World Congress Gastroenterology, American Society Clinical Radiology (Executive Committee). Member American, New York State, New York County medical associations, American Medical Writers Association (advising committee), and the International Congress for Internal Medicine.

Soma Weiss (1899-1942), physician and professor, born in Budapest, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied at the Royal Hungarian University in Budapest from 1916 to 1920, during which period he served also as a research fellow and demonstrator at the university.

In 1921, after emigrating to the United States, Weiss received a BA degree from Columbia University, and two years later his medical degree from the Cornell Medical School. Weiss became an assistant at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory in Boston in 1923; at the time of his death he was assistant director of the laboratory. He was made assistant in medicine at Harvard University in 1926, instructor in 1927, assistant professor in 1929, associate professor in 1932, and Hersey Professor of Medicine in 1939.

Weiss was also chief of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and director of the fourth Harvard medical service at the Boston City Hospital.

With various associates, Weiss made original studies in etiology (the study of the cause of diseases), concurrent factors and therapeutic chemistry of abnormal conditions, particularly in the fields of cardio-vascular disturbances and hypertension. Despite his youth, he was one of the most important research workers of his time.

Weiss died in Boston.

Mihai Patriciu (born either Grünsperger or Weiss) (1909-1996), politician and police officer, born in Nasaud, Romania (then part of Austria-Hungary). He worked for a time as a hatter in Nasaud. He was attracted by the left-wing political movements and in 1938 joined the Romanian Communist Party at a time when the Communist movement was illegal in Romania. He volunteered to the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. After the defeat of the Republican forces, along with the other Romanian fighters he fled to France, where he was imprisoned in the Gurs and Argèles-sur-Mer camps. Patriciu was one of a group of Romanian internees who escaped from the French detention camp in April 1941, moved to Paris and joined the anti-Nazi French Resistance. He returned to Romania in 1944 along Mihail Florescu (born Iancu Iacobi) (1912-2000), the future Minister of Chemical Industry of Romania.

An associate of Teohari Georgescu, Minister of Home Affairs of Communist Romania (1945-1952), Patriciu was appointed commander of the police in the city of Cluj in 1945. After 1948 he was a colonel of Securitate (the Romanian Communist secret police) and in charge of its activities in Cluj and the surrounding area. As such, he was responsible for the implementation of the repressive policy of the Communist authorities, including the extra-judicial execution of a number of anti-Communist militants. He was fired from his position within the Securitate after the fall into disgrace of his patron Georgescu in 1952. In 1955 he was appointed director of the Metallurgical Plant in Resita. He died in Cluj.