SOBORTEN:
Town in Bohemia, whose community is probably one of the oldest in the province. The community of Soborten includes parts of the Teplitz, Dux, and Karlitz districts. The synagogue has a tower, with a clock, and two lamps respectively bearing the dates 1553 and 1654. For a time the cemetery at Soborten was used as a burial-place by the community of Dresden. Many gravestones bear the inscription "Mi-Geresh Prag," marking the graves of Jews who were driven from Prague, some of whom died as martyrs. Until 1848 the Jews of Soborten were confined to the ghetto—the Judengasse, as it is still called. For some time the community formed a part of the Leitmeritz district rabbinate, but in 1883 it gained independence and elected as its rabbi Ḥayyim (Heinrich) Galandauer (author of "Der Socialismus im Bibel und Talmud"). Soborten has a Jewish population of 150.
