On Frumetel Fleckeles's effort to ask an Empress to allow the Jewish sick and new mothers to remain in Prague, even after being expelled

Here is a fascinating entry in a book about the graves in Prague's Jewish cemetery (more below).

It says:

[Grave entry 3661] 5505 Tammuz (July 1745). Frumetel, wife of Mr. Wolf Fleckeles. She wished to lobby the Sovereign, May Her Glory Increase (!), at the time of the expulsion [from Prague], on behalf of the sick and newly birthed, to allow them to remain in Prague. The daughter of Mr. Joseph Harfmer.

Not that it requires much more explanation, but what it says is that at the time that Empress Maria Theresa decreed the expulsion of the Jews from Prague - late 1744 - Frumetel Fleckeles attempted to petition her to allow the sick Jews, and new mothers, to stay. She herself died in July of 1745 - in Prague, obviously. 

It is worth pointing out that even in these circumstances the acronym Jews traditionally appended to kings and queens - ירום הודה, יר"ה - is added. Now the simple explanation may just be that of course you were going to add it to a reference to the Queen, even while she was in middle of expelling the entire community. You can curse her in private, but not omit it from a tombstone. Nevertheless, I can't help but feeling that to a certain degree the idea of omitting such an honorific would barely have occurred to Jews, who at the time still had not dreamed of emancipation and equal rights. No, of course they did not want to be expelled - but they also did not really expect to be treated otherwise. They knew that they were given rights of residency not because they were liked, not because they had rights, and not because they were brothers of the people in whose midst they lived. They were mostly allowed to live and prosper where they did because a ruling sovereign permitted it because it was economically advantageous. And usually this was despite the wishes of the masses, who would have preferred if the Jews were not allowed to live there. So, maybe I am wrong, but I suspect that the thought of not referring to an Empress with "May Her Glory Increase" simply because she was being cruel at the moment - and, indeed, in 1748 she allowed the Jews to return to Prague - would not have occurred to them. 

So just like that, we learn of one woman's heroism by her tombstone inscription. I wish more details were provided, but this is plenty. The above comes from the book Die Familien Prags. This book was published by David Kaufmann, based on the research of Simon (Sinai) Hock, a prominent Prague communal leader, who was an amateur historian (hmm). With notebook in hand Hock copied thousands of gravestones in the Prague cemetery, and after he passed away, Kaufmann published them. Basing himself in part on Hock's gruntwork/research, Kaufmann published an article called Der Stammbaum des R. Eleasar Fleckeles, and he refers to Frimet Fleckeles' actions. He adds nothing new, so I assume he got it off her tombstone inscription as copied by Hock.

Here is Simon Hock:

Here is a post I once did about the reaction of English Jews (and eventually the British government) to Maria Theres's expulsion order, and how they tried to persuade her to rescind it (link).