Jakob was warmly welcomed into the family of Julius and Elise Fröhlich. At school, the teacher couple Seev and Margalith Berlinger made sure that only Hebrew was spoken. The other children were some months earlier in the country and already knew better Hebrew.

Jakob could rapidly catch up, because his grandfather in Wiesenbronn had spoken with him all prayers and many biblical texts in Hebrew:
"I had a good foundation for Hebrew. I owe this to my grandfather who always studied with me at home."