קהילת יהודי הונגריה

Zsigmond Krausz (1815-1874), journalist and communal leader, born in Gyorsziget, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at several yeshivot, was a school teacher for some time and subsequently became a businesssman. He took part in the emancipation movement of Hungarian Jewry, but opposed any reform of religious and communal life. He was one of the leaders and founders of the Shomre Hadath Association ("Guardians of the Faith"), the nucleus of the national Orthodox organization of Hungary which effectively resisted Reform Jewish tendencies in the country. Krausz, a delegate at the general congress of the Jews of Hungary held in Budapest (1868-1869), introduced the plan of the Shomre Hadath for community organization. After the Congress he fought against the enforcement of the resolutions which had been passed by the Reform majority. When, in 1871, in consequence of the protests of the Shomre Hadath, the Hungarian government permitted the Orthodox Jews to form a separate autonomous community, Krausz became a member of the Central Committee of the Orthodox Jewish group.

Krausz wrote articles against anti-Semitism, and he published in 1857 a series of articles on the Jewish religion and the Talmud in the largest Hungarian daily, "Pesti Naplo". He maintained a lively correspondence on Jewish subjects and halakhic questions with leading contemporary personalities and did much to foster the friendly attitude of some Hungarian statesmen toward Orthodox aspirations for organizational independence from the Reform movement.

Among his published works and articles are: "Ueber die biblischen Benennungen der Schal und Muscheltiere" (in "Ben Chananja"; 1858); "Die grosse Synode, ihr Uhrsprung und ihre Wirkungen" (1859), "Einige Worte an die schreibenden Judenfeinde" (1861); "Eine Israelitische Stimme zur Begruessung der edlen magyarischen Nation" (1861); "Die Aufgabe des gesetzestreuen Judentums im vereinigten vaterlande" (1870). He was editor of the Hungarian-language weekly, "Magyar Zsido" (1968-1969).

Krausz died in Mezobereny, Hungary.

Adolph Aryeh Schwarz (1846-1931), rabbi, scholar and educator, born in Adasz-Tevel, near Papa, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He was educated at the gymnasium of Papa, and his father, who was a rabbi, taught him Talmud. Later he studied theology at the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary in Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) and then attended the University of Vienna, Austria, where he graduated as doctor of philosophy.

After serving as chief rabbi at Karlsruhe, Germany, from 1875 to 1893, he was called to the Vienna Israelitische-Theologische Lehranstalt as its first dean, and remained in this office to the end of his life. In Karlsruhe Schwartz devoted himself to research on the Tosefta. His vast scholarly output was devoted primarily to the study of the Talmud and its methodology.

He published: Die Tosifta der Ordnung Moed. I. Der Tractat Sabbath (1879); II. Der Tractat Erubin (1882); Tosifta juxta Mischnarum Ordinum Recomposita et Commentario instructa I. Seraim. II. Chulin. (1890-1902). During his time in Vienna he concerned himself mostly with hermeneutics, publishing Die hermeneutische Analogie in der talmudischen Literatur (1897); Der hermeneutische Syllogismus in der talmudischen Literatur (1901); and Die hermeneutische Induktion in der talmudischen Literatur (1909). Other works of his include: Ueber Jacobis oppositionelle Stellung zu Kant, Fichte und Schelling (1870); Ueber das juedische Kalenderwesen (1872); Sabbatpredigten zu den Wochenabschnitten der Fuenf Buecher Moses (I-V, 1879-1883); Festpredigten fuer alle Hauptfeiertage des Jahres (1884); Predigten, Neue Folge (1892); Die Kontroverse der Schammaiten und Hilleliten, Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Hillelschule (1893); Die Frauen der Bibel. Drei Vortraage (1903); Die Erzaahlungskunst der Bibel. Zwei Vortraage (1904) and Die Mischneh-Tora (1905).

Jubilee volumes were published in honor of his seventieth (1817) and eightieth (1927) birthdays, the latter entirely in Hebrew. The Austrian state conferred upon him the title of Hofrat (Court Councillor). Schwarz died in Vienna.

David Egger (second half of 19th century), head of the Hungarian branch of Egger Brothers, well known goldsmiths and antiquarians. A master craftsman frequently employed by royalty and the church, he was at the peak of his popularity during the 1870s. The Budapest municipality commissioned him to produce its official wedding gift to the Archduchess Stephanie in 1880, which was a set of jewels, made of gold inlaid with precious stones, designed in traditional Hungarian motifs. The National Museum of Technology purchased one of his chalices, and Bishop Arnold Ipolyi was also amongst his patrons.

Mor Gelleri (1854-1915), economist and author, born in Apatfalva, a small village in the south of Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). Upon completion of his school education at Szeged, Hungary, he moved to Budapest. There he found employment at the headquarters of the National Journeymen's Guild, an umbrella organization which looked after the interests of craftsmen. In 1872 he became editor of several journals published by the Guild for the benefit of its members. In 1879 he launched the Magyar Ipar es Kereskedelmi Lap ("The Journal of Hungarian Industry and Trade"). Two years later he organized a national exhibition of women’s handicrafts and then went on to establish the Hungarian Museum of Commerce.

Subsequently Gelleri became president of the Technical Writers' Federation. He was author of many works concerning industry and commerce in Hungary, including A magyar ipar uttoroi ("The Pioneers of Hungarian Industry", 1887), Otven ev a magyar ipar tortenetebol ("A History of Fifty Years of Hungarian Industry", 1892), Az ezereves Magyarorszag multjarol es jelenerol ("The Past and Present of the One Thousand Years Old Hungary", 1896), Ipartorteneti vazlatok ("Sketches of Industrial History", 1906), Az ujabb ipari mozgalmak ("Newer Industrial Movements", 1910). Hetven ev a magyar ipar tortenetebol ("Seventy Years of Hungarian Industry", 1912) was devoted mainly to an analysis of industrial progress and problems of industrial development in Hungary. Gelleri visited the United States officially during the World's Fair (1904).

He became secretary general of the Hungarian Free Masons, and for twenty-six years editor of their official organ. Mor Gelleri died in Budapest. He had been the recipient of numerous Hungarian decorations.

Erno Munkacsi (1896-1950), jurist and art writer born in Panticeu (Páncélcseh, in Hungarian), Romania (then part of Austria-Hungary). He was a son of Bernat Munkacsi, a renowned philologist and ethnographer. Munkacsi studied law at the University of Budapest and upon admission to the bar in 1923, served first as secretary, then as counselor, and finally as chief counselor of the Neolog Jewish community of Pest.

He was author of articles and books dealing with the legal status and customs of the Jewish community of Hungary. He strove for complete autonomy of the Jews in Hungary, within the framework of the laws of emancipation (1867) and repatriation (1895). He wished to educate the Jews with a historical Jewish consciousness, and to eradicate the widespread ignorance of Jewish matters. In 1941 he became a member of the national board of the congressional Jewish communities of Hungary.

Munkacsi undertook several research trips to Italy and published "Romai naplo" ("Diary from Rome," 1931), describing relics of the Jewish past in Rome; "Avicenna kanonjanak miniaturjei" ("The Miniatures of Avicenna's Canon"; 1935); Livornoi regisegek (Antiquities of Livorno; 1935); "Miniaturmuveszet Italia Konyvtaraiban, Heber Kodexek" ("The Art of Miniature in the Libraries of Italy; Hebrew Codices", 1937); "Der Jude von Neapel" (1940, in Hungarian, 1941), dealing with the remnants of Jewish art in southern Italy; on Jean Baptist Frey's Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum. An English article "Ancient and Medieval Synagogues in Representation of the Fine Arts" (Jubilee Volume Bernhard Heller, 1941, 241-51 ed. by Munkacsi) was devoted to the representation of art in Synagogues.

In 1942 Munkacsi went underground. During the period of the Holocaust, he proposed the idea of contacting the Hungarian anti-Nazi underground movement, and he was one of the editors of the underground manifesto which revealed to the non-Jewish community the horrors of the deportation. After World War II he published documents and lists from the period of the Holocaust "Hogyan tortent?" ("How Did It Happen?", 1947). He published many articles in Jewish journals, in particular the periodical "Mult es Jovo" ("Past and Future"), and Libanon, for which he served as one of the editors.

Jozsef Rozsay (1815-1885), physician, born in Lakompak (Lackenbach), Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Austria). His father (named Rosenfeld) was a physician in the employ of Count Festetich. Rozsay studied medicine at Vienna, and after receiving his M.D. degree he joined the staff of the medical schools of several German universities. He served in the Hungarian Revolution (1848 to 1849) as a physician in a field hospital; subsequently he held several posts in the public health service, becoming health officer-in-chief of Budapest and Pest County. In 1864 he was made a member of the Hungarian Academy and knighted with permission to use the prefix "murakozi" in his name.

In the 1840's Rozsay founded the movement of the Hungarian Jews for Magyarization (Izraelita Magyaritó Egyesület). He also participated in Jewish communal endeavors. Rozsay published two books on medicine as practiced by the ancient Jews, "A gyógyászat a hébereknél és a zsídó orvosok a középkorban" ("Medicine among the Hebrews and the Jewish Physicians in the Middle Ages"; 1863) and "Tanulmány a régi zsidók orvostanáról" ("Essay on the Medicine of the Ancient Jews"; 1875). He also wrote several works on senescence, the prevention of epidemics, cremation and penitentiaries.

Kosman Yehoshua Wodianer (1759-1831), talmudic scholar, born in Veprovac, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Kruščić in Serbia), the son of Philip Wodianer.

He maintained at his own cost a yeshiva and dormitories at Gyor, Hungary. His Hebrew writings were published by his son Arnold (Aaron) under the title “Sofer Nahlath Yehoshua”. The introduction to his “Liber Hereditatis Josuae, Commentationes in plerosque Talmudi Babylonici Tractatus additis commentationibus in Pentateuchum” (published in 2 vol., Vindobonae, 1890), was written in Hebrew by Prof. Vilmos (Wilhelm) Bacher. A copy of this book was sent to the Vatican, where it was received with much appreciation as a valuable theological tractate.

Lajos Purjesz (1881-1925), editor and publicist, born in Nagyirtáspuszta, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He graduated from Law School at the University of Budapest, and became a columnist and subsequently responsible editor of the daily newspaper Egyetertes ("Concord"). As editor-in-chief of Vilag ("The World"), Purjesz undertook the task of trying to instill into the reading public the principles of ethical democracy. Following the Counter Revolution of 1919 he courageously denounced unlawful actions and the curtailing of human rights, thereby aiding a return to more democratic conditions. For some time he was also the editor of the Masonic publications Kelet ("Orient"), and held several distinguished positions in organizations which represented journalists. Purjesz was among the founders of funds for the sick, the orphans and widows of the association of Budapest journalists.

Samuel Krauss (1866-1948), historian, philologist and Talmudic scholar born in Ukk, western Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at Papa Yeshivah and at the Budapest rabbinical seminary and university. From 1894 to 1906 Krauss taught Bible and Hebrew at the Jewish teachers' seminary in Budapest. In 1906 he began to teach Bible, history, and liturgy at the Israelitische-Theologische Lehranstalt in Vienna, Austria. It was due to his efforts that the college did not succumb to financial difficulties after World War I. Krauss was appointed head of the seminary in 1932 and rector in 1937. Krauss founded the "Vienna Verein juedische Geschichte und Literatur", and was active in many communal institutions. During the Kristallnacht in November 1938, the Nazis destroyed his valuable library and papers, and he fled to England, joining his daughter in Cambridge, where he remained until his death.

Kraus wrote over 1,300 articles and monographs, many of them major works, ranging widely in Judaica, philology, history, Bible, Talmud, Christianity and medieval Hebrew literature. One of his early works in philology: "Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwoerter im Talmud" (2 vol., 1898-99; repr. 1964), deals with the problems of phonetics, grammar, and transcription, and also with words borrowed from other languages. He also prepared a volume of additions and corrections to A. Kohut's "Arukh" entitled "Tosefot ha-Arukh ha-Shalem" (1936, repr. 1955). Among Krauss' historical studies was "Antonius und Rabbi" (1910), in which he offered his solution to the problem of the identity of the Talmudic Antonius, the friend of Judah ha-Nasi. On the then little-known Byzantine period in Jewish history, Krauss contributed "Studien zur byzantinisch-juedischen Geschichte" (in "Jahresbericht der Israelitisch-Theologischen Lehranstalt", vol. 21, 1914). Krauss wrote on the aliyah of the Polish Hasidim in the 18th century (in "Abhandlungen … Chajes" (1933, 51-95), and on Viennese and Austrian Jewish history in "Wiener Geserah vom Jahre 1421" (1922), in "Geschichte der israelitischen Armenanstalt" (1922), and in "Joachim Edler von Popper" (1926). His "Vier Jahrtausende juedischen Palaestinas" (1922) demonstrates the unbroken record of a Jewish presence in the Holy Land. Kraus contributed to A. Kahana's edition of the Hebrew Bible, a modern commentary of Isaiah (1905). He also cooperated in the Hungarian Bible translation edited by Bacher and Banoczi, Szentiras (1898-1907). Krauss' greatest work is his "Talmudische Archeologie" (3 vol., 1910-12; repr. 1966), a classic description of every aspect of life reflected in Talmudic and Midrashic literature. A similar work in Hebrew is his unfinished "Kadmoniyyot ha-Talmud" (2 vol., 1914-23). The history of the synagogue is described in his "Synagogale Altertuemer" (1922., repr. 1966). His last work, "Korot Battei ha- Tefillah be-Israel", ed. by A. R. Malachi (1955), was an extension and continuation of this work. His "Griechen und Roemer" (in Monumenta hebraica: Monumenta Talmudica, 5 pt. 1, 1914) and "Paras ve-Romi ba-Talmud u-va-Midrashim" (1948) also deal with the talmudic period. Kraus contributed to German and English publications on Sanhedrin, Makkot and Mishna, and a Hungarian translation of the Talmudic tractate Derekh Erez. Krauss also tackled the subject of Christianity in his "Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen" (1902) and in several articles. His interest in Hebrew poetry of the Spanish period is reflected in his "Givat Sha'ul" (1923), and in his "Mishbezet ha-Tarshish" (1926), on Moses ibn Ezra. His "Geschichte der juedischen Aerzte" (1930) is a description of the work and status of Jewish physicians of the Middle Ages. In his "Zur Orgelfrage" (1919), Krauss expressed his conservative stance concerning the use of organs in synagogues. He contributed ahundreds of articles to the "Jewish Encyclopedia", the "Encyclopedia Judaica" (German), and the "Juedische Lexikon". He wrote biographies of his teachers Wilhelm Bacher, David Kaufmann, and Alexander Kohut.

Philip Klein (1849-1926), Orthodox rabbi born in Baracska, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at several yeshivot including that of Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia.) Concurrently he studied at the gymnasium at Pozsony. In Germany he attended the Universities of Berlin, and Jena and the the University of Vienna in Austria, and obtained a degree of doctor. As a rabbi he was ordained by the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin in 1871.

Klein served as rabbi in Kiev, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) (1874-1880), and in Libau, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire), 1880-1891. Russian anti-Semitism, exacerbated by the policies of Alexander III, caused Klein to leave Russia for the USA. in 1891. He served as rabbi of the first Hungarian Congregation Ohad Zedek, New York City, from 1891 until 1926. He was a leader of the 1914 US war-relief drive in the US, and was serving as president of the Agudat Israel movement. He was extremely active in New York City's Orthodox religious life, however, was not entirely separated from the Mizrahi Zionist ideal. Klein was one of the very few rabbis with an orthodox middle-class acculturated congregation. He was also honorary president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.