Moses Mielziner

Last updated

Moses Mielziner (August 12, 1828 in Schubin, Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia - February 18, 1903 in Cincinnati) was an American Reform rabbi and author.

Contents

Life

Mielziner received his first instruction in Talmudic literature from his father, Benjamin, who was the rabbi of his native town. At the same time, he received his secular education from L. I. Braunhart. In 1843, Mielziner was sent to Exin, where he attended the yeshiva of the aged rabbi Wolf Klausner, and in 1845 he went to Berlin in pursuit of further secular education, attending at the same time the Talmudic course of Rabbi J. J. Oettinger.

In 1848, having prepared himself privately for academic studies, he entered the University of Berlin. He remained there until 1852, when Samuel Holdheim, who took a great interest in him, recommended him to Waren in Mecklenburg as teacher and preacher. The Orthodox reaction introduced by the "Landrabbiner" Baruch Isaac Lipschütz in 1853 forced Mielziner, much to the regret of his congregation, to resign his position.

He then went to Denmark, where his brother Solomon was minister in Aalborg, and soon obtained a position at Randers in 1854. In 1857 he was called as principal of the religious school to Copenhagen, where he remained until 1865, when he was called to the rabbinate of the Congregation Anshe Chesed in New York City ("New Yorker Staats-Zeitung," 1865, No. 215). When this congregation was absorbed by the Beth-El congregation, he opened a private school, which he conducted until 1879, when he received a call as professor of Talmud and rabbinical literature from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Upon the death of Isaac Mayer Wise March 26, 1900, he became president of this institution, and held this position until his death.

Works

Mielziner was not a voluminous writer. Apart from several sermons which he published, the first of which was delivered in Waren, 1854, he wrote Die Verhältnisse der Sklaven bei den Hebräern, Copenhagen, 1859, this being the thesis for which he received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Giessen. This book appeared also in an English translation under the title "Slavery Among the Ancient Hebrews," Cincinnati, 1895.

As a result of his college lectures he published:

Mielziner edited a Danish almanac for the year 5622 = 1862–63, and A Selection from the Psalms for School and Family, Cincinnati, 1890. He also contributed to the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Ben Chananja, the American Israelite, and Die Deborah, and wrote articles for the Year-Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and for The Jewish Encyclopedia.

Family

Mielziner married Rosette Levald of Copenhagen in 1861. Of the seven children who survived him, Leo Mielziner was an artist in Paris and Jacob was a rabbi in Helena, Montana. Leo Mielziner would marry Ella Friend McKenna and become the father of five-time Tony Award-winning stage designer, Jo Mielziner and of the noted actor and MGM Story Director, Kenneth MacKenna.

Source: Henderson, Mary C., Mielziner: Master of Modern Stage Design (2001)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Holdheim</span> German rabbi and author (1806-1860)

Samuel Holdheim was a German rabbi and author, and one of the more extreme leaders of the early Reform Movement in Judaism. A pioneer in modern Jewish homiletics, he was often at odds with the Orthodox community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azriel Hildesheimer</span> German Orthodox rabbi (1820–1899)

Azriel Hildesheimer was a German rabbi and leader of Orthodox Judaism. He is regarded as a pioneering moderniser of Orthodox Judaism in Germany and as a founder of Modern Orthodox Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zvi Hirsch Kalischer</span>

Zvi (Zwi) Hirsch Kalischer was an Orthodox German rabbi who expressed views, from a religious perspective, in favour of the Jewish re-settlement of the Land of Israel, which predate Theodor Herzl and the Zionist movement. He was the grandfather of Salomon Kalischer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Mayer Wise</span> Bohemian-born American rabbi, editor and author (1819-1900)

Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author. At his death he was called "the foremost rabbi in America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moritz Steinschneider</span> Bohemian bibliographer and orientalist (1816-1907)

Moritz Steinschneider was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider, who was not only an expert Talmudist, but was also well versed in secular science. The house of the elder Steinschneider was the rendezvous of a few progressive Hebraists, among whom was his brother-in-law, the physician and writer Gideon Brecher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Cincinnati</span>

The history of the Jews in Cincinnati occupies a prominent place in the development of Jewish secular and religious life in the United States. Cincinnati is not only the oldest Jewish community west of the Allegheny Mountains but has also been an institutional center of American Reform Judaism for more than a century. The Israelite, the oldest American Jewish newspaper still (2019) being published, began publication in Cincinnati in 1854.

Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghiyyat (1030/1038–1089) was a Spanish rabbi, Biblical commentator, codifier of Jewish law, philosopher, and liturgical poet. He was born and lived in the town of Lucena, where he also headed a rabbinic academy. He died in Cordoba.

Moses Nagari or Moses ben Judah (in Hebrew, Moshe ben Yehuda ha-Nagari was a medieval Jewish philosopher and writer. According to Steinschneider, he lived at Rome, Italy about 1300, and his name should be read "Na'ar", part of the Ne'arim family. Moses wrote Ma'amar ba-Ma'areket, an index to Maimonides' Moreh Nebukim, and explanations of philosophical terms, printed, together with Saul Cohen's philosophical questions on the "Moreh" addressed to Isaac Abravanel, at Venice in 1574. This being considered a fragment of a collective work on the Moreh, it was erroneously called Qetzat Bi'ure ha-Moreh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gotthard Deutsch</span> American rabbi and historian (1859–1921)

Gotthard Deutsch was a scholar of Jewish history.

Samuel Löw Brill was a Hungarian rabbi and Talmudical scholar born in Budapest. He was educated by his father, Azriel Brill (1778-1853), who was teacher and associate rabbi at Pest, Hungary, and the author of several works in the Hebrew language. After having been carefully grounded at home in Hebrew studies, and graduating with honors from the Protestant Lyceum of his native city, he attended the Talmud schools at Eisenstadt (1832) [under M. J. Perls], Presburg (1834–35) [under Moses Sofer], and Prague (1836), where he obtained, at the age of twenty-two, his rabbinical degree. In 1842-43 he was registered in the University of Berlin, where he attended the courses of famous teachers, such as Boeckh, the classical philologist, Ritter, the geographer, Leopold Ranke, the historian, Schelling, and others, and associated with Leopold Zunz and Michael Sachs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Samuel Reggio</span>

Isaac Samuel Reggio (YaShaR) was an Austro-Italian scholar and rabbi. He was born and died in Gorizia.

Isaac Abraham Euchel was a Hebrew author and founder of the "Haskalah-movement".

Solomon Frensdorff was a German Jewish Hebraist.

Rabbi Mendel Hess was a German rabbi.

Hirsch Lehren, also known as Tsebi Hirsch Lehren was a Dutch Jewish merchant and community worker.

Jacob Raphael Fürstenthal was a German Jewish poet, translator, and Hebrew writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salomon Mandelkern</span>

Salomon Mandelkern was a Russian-Jewish poet and author.

Moses Levi Ehrenreich was an Italian rabbi, who became chief rabbi at Rome.

Joel Müller was a German rabbi and Talmudist, born in Ungarisch-Ostra, Moravia, and dying in Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Mielziner</span>

Leo Mielziner was a noted portrait artist.

References

(PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help))