Story Summary:
Rabbi and historian Ismar Elbogen was born in Schildberg (Ostrzeszow, Poland) in 1874. He studied in Breslau at the University and at the Juedisch-theologisches Seminar, receiving his doctorate in 1898 and his rabbinical ordination the following year. Elbogen taught at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Florence from 1899 to 1902 and at the Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin from 1902 to 1938, when he emigrated to the United States. Elbogen was the author of Jewish Liturgy- A Comprehensive History, which was, at the time, the most thorough academic study of Jewish Liturgy ever written. ~Blog by Renee Meyers
RABBI ISMAR ELBOGEN
(AUTHOR OF “JEWISH LITURGY-A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY” - the most thorough academic study of the Jewish liturgy ever written at this time).
Rabbi Yitzchak Moshe (Ismar) Elbogen was born on September 1, 1874, in Poznan County, Voivodeship, Poland. His family consisted of his parents, Hermann and Seraphine Elbogen and his brother: Max Eugene Elbogen.
Ismar received his required formal schooling and was also schooled by his Uncle Jacob Levy, author of the “Neuhebraisches Worterbuch.” Ismar attended the Gymnasium school and the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary. He earned his doctorate from the Breslau University.
In 1899 Ismar was ordained as a Rabbi and he began his teaching career. From 1899-1902, he served as a lecturer in history and Bible exegesis for the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano, in Florence, Italy. While in Italy Ismar perfected his knowledge in Italian Jewish history and literature. Ismar then taught in Florence from 1899 through 1902 and at the Hochschule Fuer Die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin from 1902 to 1938. Ismar taught a large variety of subjects and was for several years the unofficial director of the Berlin institution. Ismar involved himself in the organizational life of German Jews and headed important committees and commissions. At some point, Ismar left Berlin but returned in 1904 and became the professor of history and Bible exegesis at the Höchschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. At that time, The Höchschule was one of the most well-known and respected Rabbinical training schools in Europe. In 1919, Elbogen was bestowed the title of Professor by the Prussian government.
Ismar married Regina Klemperer, and they had two children, Shoshana Ronen and Herman Zvi Elbin. Herman eventually became a Rabbi, teacher, scholar, and a historian and his sister Shoshana likewise became a historian.
For most of his adult life, Ismar served as an organizer, administrator and a warm-hearted and wise counsellor of generations of students. Most of his students described Ismar as a dynamic scholar of outstanding qualities of character and intellect.
Ismar left Germany and escaped from Europe in 1938 prior to World War 2. He then immigrated to New York where he was appointed research professor simultaneously at four institutions: Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, and Dropsie College.
Ismar authored a major work entitled “Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History.” This book covered the entire range of Jewish liturgical development, beginning with the early cornerstones of the siddur (prayerbook); through the evolution of the medieval piyyut tradition; to modern prayerbook reform in Germany and in the United States. At the time of its publication, this book was the most thorough academic study of the Jewish liturgy ever written. Ismar’s book had been updated in several subsequent Hebrew editions. The latest Hebrew edition had been translated into English by Raymond P. Scheindlin, and in 1993 it was published by the Jewish Publication Society.
Ismar’s Der jüdische Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtlichen Enwicklung (1913) remained a standard work well over twenty years later. He wrote several volumes supplementing the Graetz history on German Jewry for the Jewish Publication Society of America. Ismar also wrote several individual community histories. He edited the Encyclopedia Judaica and the Germania Judaica.
Israel Lewy, the famous Talmud critic, was the teacher who most influenced Elbogen. Ismar came to this country in 1938 at the joint invitation of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Ismar had been a research professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. after attending both Breslau University and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Ismar published several other works including: Der Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione und Seine Stellung Innerhalb der Philosophie Spinoza's, Breslau, 1898, In Commemorazione di S. D. Luzzatto, Florence, 1901, Die Neueste Construction der Jüdischen Geschichte, Breslau, 1902 and Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, Berlin, Erich Lichtenstein Verlag, 1935.
Ismaar’s scholarly interests were mainly in Jewish history and the history of Jewish liturgy. His major work, Derjuedische Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtliehen Entwicklung (1913), is a comprehensive and important work on Jewish liturgy; it traces the history of the prayers said in the synagogue. His other works are devoted to Jewish History and are written in a popular style such as his Century of Jewish Life (1944). Elbogen devoted his attention also to history as in the book Wissenschaft des Judentums which described the Jewish past and outlined a program for Jewish scholarship which could be viewed as a guide for the Jewish present and future. Ismar was one of the editors for the periodical Devir (1923–24); Germania Judaica (2 vols., 1917–34); the jubilee edition of Moses Mendelssohn's collected works (in 6 volumes) 1929–32; Zeitschrift fuer die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland (7 volumes, 1929–38); Juedisches Lexikon (4 volumes. 1927–30); Encyclopaedia Judaica (9 volumes; 1928–34); Eshkol (2 vols., 1929–32); and Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (10 volumes, 1939–43).
Ismar was an active participant in the Liberal movement in the German Jewish community. He took part in writing the Liberal prayer book for German Jews, Tefillot le-Kol ha-Shanah: Gebetbuch fuer das ganze Jahr bearbeitet im Auftrage des Liberalen Kultus (1932). Ismar restored prayers to the liturgy which had been removed by the reformers in their attempts to eradicate the concept of Jewish peoplehood from the Jewish religion.
Ismar scorned the rise of anti-Semitism in his native country. In 1931 he wrote a letter to a national conference of Jewish leaders describing his observations and views regarding the discrimination and subjugation of Jews. Out of an abundance of caution, Ismar sent his children away amid this Jew hatred. He sent his daughter to Palestine and his son to the United States after affirming to his family and others that Jewish culture was no longer possible under the Nazi regime in Germany. In 1938, Elbogen left Germany for New York where he would begin his work as a research professor at the four Universities that hired him.
Elbogen was strongly committed to the Jewish lay community. He belonged to the Union of Prussian Jewish Communities and the B'nai B'rith. Elbogan was also an early intellectual leader of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
Ismar Elbogen died suddenly on 1 August 1943 at 68 years old amid a life filled with selfless devotion to causes important to him as well as his academia, Ismar’s 46 years of original research, his students, the organizations he was involved with, and his selfless devotion to furthering the knowledge and understanding of Judaism as well as its basic teachings and its history. Rabbi Ismar Elbogen is buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York.
~Blog by Renee Meyers
