Rabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("62653")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Oriental_studies">orientalist
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the term Asian studies has mostly replaced the older term. European study of the region had primarily religious origins,...
. He belonged to a family of rabbis, the most noted among them being Rabbi Israel Palota, his great-grandfather, Rabbi Amram (called "The Gaon," who died in
SafedSafed is a city in the Northern District of Israel. At an elevation of 800 meters above sea level, Safed is the highest city in the Galilee. Since the sixteenth century, Safad has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias...
,
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
, where he had spent the last years of his life), and Rabbi Chayyim Kitssee, rabbi in Erza, who was his great-granduncle. The last-named was the author of several
rabbinicRabbinic may refer to:* Rabbinic literature, Rabbinic texts, writings, and works* Rabbinics or rabbinic traditions - see Oral Torah* Rabbinic Judaism, Rabbinics , Rabbinic Jews, or Rabbinic beliefs...
works.
Early Training
Kohut's father, Jacob Kohut, was a great
linguistLinguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of meaning...
, and was well versed in rabbinic literature. He was so poor that he could not afford to send his son to the village school. There being no
Hebrew school-Background and History:According to an article in the Jewish Quarterly Review entitled "The Jewish Sunday School Movement in the United States" and printed in 1900, “the exact beginning of the American Jewish Sunday Schools is obscured by uncertainty and difficulty of opinion…”though it is largely...
(
cheder) in his native town, Alexander reached his eighth year without having learned even the rudiments of
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
or
HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
. At a very tender age, while selling his mother's tarts in the marketplace, he was kidnapped by Gipsies, because of his extraordinary beauty. His family soon removed to
KecskemetKecskemét is a city in the central part of Hungary. It is the 8th largest city of the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun.- Location :...
, where Kohut received his first instruction. He attended the
gymnasiumA gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools...
and at the same time studied
TalmudThe Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
with an old scholar, Reb Gershom Lövinger. In his fifteenth year, while trying to decipher some foreign words in the Talmud with the aid of Landau's
Dictionary, he conceived the plan of writing a complete lexicon of the Talmud, not having found the
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
of many words in Landau.
After finishing the gymnasium course in Kecskemet, he removed to
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
. Anxious to continue his rabbinical studies, he went to Breslau. In 1865, he received a call to the rabbinate of Tarnowitz,
Upper SilesiaUpper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Prussia, and later of unified German Reich...
. He then spent another year in Breslau, devoting his time to Oriental
philologyPhilology considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies.Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages...
and Semitics. During the previous year he received his
Ph.D.Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip* PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian organization...
degree from the
University of LeipzigThe University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, his dissertation being "Ueber die Jüdische Angelogie und Daemonologie in Ihrer Abhängigkeit vom Parsismus." The essay was published by the
Deutsche Morgenländische GesellschaftThe Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft , in English the German Oriental Society, is a scholarly organization dedicated to studies of Asia and the broader Orient....
in 1866, it being the first Jewish work issued under the auspices of that society. He obtained his rabbinical diploma in 1867. It was in 1864 that he began to collect materials for a critical edition of the
'Aruk of
Nathan ben JehielNathan ben Jehiel of Rome was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He was born in Rome not later than 1035 to one of the most notable Roman families of Jewish scholars. Owing to an error propagated by Azulai, he has been regarded as a scion of the house of De Pomis...
. In 1867 he was called to the rabbinate of Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary. Baron Joseph von Eötvös, the famous Hungarian poet and novelist, and afterward "Cultusminister," appointed him superintendent of all the schools in the county, this being the first time that such a position had been tendered to a Jew. The Congress of Jewish notables held in Budapest in 1868 appointed Kohut its secretary. Notable among his literary labors falling in this period is his study entitled "Etwas über die Moral und Abfassungszeit des Buches Tobias," originally published in Geiger's
Jüd. Zeit. vol. x., several monographs in the
Z. D. M. G. which developed his original thesis concerning
PersianPersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
influence on Judaism, and his "Kritische Beleuchtung der Persischen Pentateuch-Uebersetzung des Jakob ben Joseph Tavus" (Leipzig, 1871). Among his literary remains are to be found materials for a critical edition of the Persian text of this version. In 1872 he was elected chief rabbi of
FünfkirchenPécs , , is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
,
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, remaining there eight years. By this time his reputation as a Hungarian orator had spread so far that many noted statesmen and church dignitaries came to hear him from distant towns.
Talmud Dictionary
About 1873 Kohut began to compile his
Dictionary of the Talmud, entirely in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
, encouraged by the promise of a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
nobleman to bear all costs of publication. He had proceeded as far as the third letter of the alphabet when he found that the work was assuming such gigantic proportions as to preclude the possibility of its being confined within the projected limits. Arduous as the merely mechanical labor of copying the manuscript was, he rewrote what he had written, intending to publish the original text of the old
'Aruk, with a German commentary. On the advice of
Leopold ZunzLeopold Zunz was a German Reform rabbi and writer, the founder of what has been termed the "Science of Judaism" , the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual...
and
Solomon BuberSolomon Buber was a Jewish Galician scholar and editor of Hebrew works. He is especially remembered for his editions of Midrash and other medieval Jewish manuscripts, and for the pioneering research surrounding those texts....
, however, who argued that the
'Aruk, being a national classic, ought to be compiled in Hebrew throughout, he again rewrote the work in that language, the labor of copying occupying two more years. It is this trait of untiring patience, which scorned all obstacles, that made the publication of vol. I, in 1878, possible. His Maecenas, in the meantime, had died, and Kohut was left to bear the burden of expense alone, save for the subvention of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna and of the Cultusministerium in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He called his work
Aruch Completum or
'Aruk ha-Shalem, and its production occupied twenty-five years of his life. The first four volumes were printed during his residence in Hungary, and the last four during his sojourn in
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, covering a period of fourteen years (Vienna, 1878-92); the supplement appearing from a New York press; and the whole work aggregating more than 4,000 double-column pages. Seven manuscripts of the
'Aruk were used by the editor in determining the
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
of the words, and countless doubtful and corrupted passages in the Talmud were thus corrected and restored. Kohut identified in an elaborate special study (printed in the supplement) the often unacknowledged sources of Nathan ben Jehiel's information, though everywhere defending him against the charge of
plagiarismPlagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered...
. The
'Aruk has been justly characterized as one of the monuments of Hebrew literature.
In 1880 Kohut was called to Grosswardein, Hungary, where he remained until 1884. While there he published (1881)
A Szidók Története, a Biblia Befejezésctöl a Jelenkorig (introduced into many schools in Hungary as a text-book), and translated the entire
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
into Hungarian. Part of the manuscript was, however, lost, and the work never appeared in print. At Grosswardein he became acquainted with
Koloman von TiszaKálmán Tisza de Borosjenő was the Hungarian prime minister between 1875 and 1890. He is credited for the formation of a consolidated Magyar government, the foundation of the new Liberal Party and major economic reforms that would both save and eventually lead to a government with popular...
, prime minister of Hungary, who, hearing him speak at a national gathering of notables, was so carried away by his eloquence that he caused him to be called to the Hungarian parliament as representative of the Jews.
In 1885 Kohut was elected rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Chesed in New York. His arrival in the U.S. was the signal for rallying the conservative forces of American Jewry; and it was not long before he was bitterly assailed by the radical wing. A series of lectures on
Ethics of the FathersPirkei Avot , literally, Chapters of the Fathers, also called Ethics of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period...
, only the first part of which was printed in book form (New York, 1885), clearly set forth his
conservatismConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
; and so marked was this attitude and the influence it had upon the public mind that the leaders of Reform felt called upon to institute the memorable
Pittsburg ConferenceThe Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith...
, to accentuate their own advanced views and their independence of the historic traditions of the past.
New York
Kohut was associated with the Rev.
Sabato MoraisSabato Morais was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.- Early years :Morais was born in Leghorn, Italy...
in founding the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, becoming one of its advisory board, and being active as professor of Talmudic methodology up to the time of his death. In 1889, on the occasion of his finishing the
Aruch Completum, he was the recipient of many honors, notably at the hands of various learned bodies in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. In 1891 he was appointed examiner in rabbinics at
Columbia CollegeColumbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King...
. In March, 1894, while delivering a stirring
eulogyA eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services, however some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
on
KossuthLajos Kossuth was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Governor-President of Hungary in 1849...
, he was stricken in his pulpit, and, after lingering a few weeks, expired on the eve of the Sabbath (25 May 1894).
A volume containing memorial addresses and tributes was published by Congregation Ahavath Chesed in 1894 in New York; and another, containing learned essays by forty-four noted scholars in Europe and America, entitled
Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, was published in Berlin in 1897 by his son, G. A. Kohut. The latter work contains a memoir of Kohut's life written by his brother, Dr. Adolph Kohut.
A complete list of Kohut's published writings has been compiled by G. A. Kohut, in the appendix to the
Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Convention of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association (New York, 1894) and in
Tributes to the Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, pp. 49-64 (ib. 1894).
His son, George Alexander Kohut, was an American writer and bibliographer; born on 11 February 1874, at Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary. He was educated at the gymnasium in Grosswardein, at the public schools in New York, at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
(1893-1895), the University of Berlin, and the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums (1895-97). In the year 1897 he became rabbi of the Temple Emanu-El,
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
, a post which he occupied for three years. In 1902 he became superintendent of the religious school of Temple Emanu-El in New York, and as of 1904 was assistant librarian of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of AmericaThe Jewish Theological Seminary of America is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism.The Jewish Theological Seminary operates five schools: Albert A...
. He died in 1933. He wrote on many topics related to Jewish life in America and bibliographical studies related to his father's work.