Zecharias Fraenkel
(1801-75)
Positions Held
President of the Breslau seminary, 1854
Chief Rabbi of Dresden, 1836-54
Rabbi of Leitmeritz, Bohemia, 1832
Biographical
A Jewish theologian, Fraenkel was one of the founders of the Breslau school
of 'historical Judaism'. This school attempts to harmonize critical
treatment of the documents of religion with fidelity to traditional beliefs
and observances. For a time at least, the compromise succeeded in
staying the disintegrating effects of the liberal movement in Judaism.
Frankel was the author of several valuable works, among them Septuagint
Studies, an Introduction to the Mishnah (1859), and a similar work on
the Palestinian Talmud (1870). He also edited the Monatsschrift,
devoted to Jewish learning on modern lines. But his chief claim
to fame rests on his headship of the Breslau Seminary. This was
founded in 1854 for the training of rabbis who should combine their rabbinic
studies with secular courses at the university. The whole character
of the rabbinate has been modified under the influence of this, the first
seminary of the kind.
Place of birth: Prague
Place of death: Breslau
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Sources
1. The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5. New York: Funk and Wagnalls
Company, 1903.
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature
and General Information, 11th edn, vol. 11. New York: Encyclopaedia
Britannica Co., 1911.
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