Berthold Stroh: דוב or יששכר בער?

Sketch of Berthold Stroh הי"ד
Dally's father

Dally's father Berthold, was born in Eisenstatd (one of the famed שבעה קהילות in the Burgenland area), on י"ז אייר 1877, to David Stroh and his wife Chana nee Spitzer. About 1905, he married Sabine Breuer of Sopron. They settled in Vienna where they had four children; David - Edwin (Dally), Shlomo - Alex, Shimon Yehuda - Ernst, and Gitel - Elli (Braun).

As was the custom among German and Austrian יידען at that time, he was known by his secular name, Berthold. A person’s שם קודש was used only for עליות in שול or on similar occasions.

Berthold, signed a letter appointing
Harav Shlomo Baumgarten as a דיין of the Schiffschul
He signed his name as  דוב שטראה 

In 1934, as the Gabbai of the renowned Vienna Schiffschul, Berthold Stroh together with the remaining 18 Vorstande (board) members, signed a letter appointing Harav Shlomo Baumgarten as a דיין for the קהלה. As we can see he signs his name דוב שטראה. 

A סליחות used by Berthold

He signs his name as דוב שטראה

In a סליחות and other ספרים that had belonged to him he also inscribes his name as דוב שטראה. Harav Yosef Baumgarten, who was the מוהל of Berthold's children, also records them as being the sons of דוב שטראה. On Ma and Dallly's כתובה Dally's father's name is given as דוב. To the best of our knowledge, all the grandchildren named for him are also called דוב.

Among those from Vienna who had ordered
a pre-publication copy of the ספר יהודה יעלה
is the name of יששכר דוב שטראה

In 1931, Rabbi Yehuda Asad's Sefer, יהודה יעלה, was printed. Among those from Vienna who had ordered a pre-publication copy, is the name יששכר דוב שטראה. This got us wondering if perhaps Dally's father's name was actually יששכר דוב.

The metrical in Eisensadt where
the Rov noted Berthold's שם קודש as יששכר

When we took a closer look at the birth record of Dally's father from Eisenstatd, we realized that the Rav of Eisenstatd at the time, had written the child's שם קודש, as יששכר into the metrical (record book).

Berthold's Mohel inscribes in his מוהל בוך.
ונקרא שמו בישראל יששכר המכונה בירל

Recently, we found a copy of a page from a Mohel Book from Eisenstadt with the following entry: בע"ה יום ב' כ"ד אייר תרל"ז לפ"ק מלתי את בנו של ר' דוד שטראה ונקרא שמו בישראל יששכר המכונה בירל נ"י ה' זכנו לגדלו לתורה ולחופה אמן, 7.5.1877


In conclusion, it seems that at birth Berthold was named יששכר who would be called בירל in other words Berthold. At some later point he adopted the לשון קודש name for בער which is דוב, and the name יששכר fell into disuse.