Landesrabbiner
Encyclopedia
are spiritual head
of the Jewish communities of a country
, province
, or district
; met with in several parts of Germany
and Austria
. The office is a result of the legal condition of the Jews
in medieval times when the Jewish communities formed a unit for the purposes of taxation. As the community had to pay certain taxes to the government, the latter had to appoint some one who should be responsible to it for their prompt collection, and who consequently had to be invested with a certain authority. The office of Landesrabbiner had no ecclesiastical meaning until the 18th century, when the various governments began to consider it their duty to care for the spiritual welfare of the Jews. Such ecclesiastical authority, owing to the strictly congregational constitution of the communities, never took root among the Jews (see, however, on the chief rabbinate of Moravia
after the death of Marcus Benedict, Moses Sofer
, Responsa
, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 13).
of Austria (1244) and recognized by Emperor Charles IV.
in his Golden bull
(1356), as well as their very frequent expulsion from the large cities in the 15th and 16th centuries, scattered the Jews in small communities. These were without protection against the arbitrary action of petty tyrants; and they caused the rulers considerable inconvenience owing to constant litigation concerning encroachments on the rights of Jews living under their protection. Therefore the Jews of a given territory organized themselves into an association which elected an advocate ("Shtadlan
") for the protection of their interests. Such an official was recognized by the government as the legal representative of the Jews, whose duty it was to see that the taxes imposed on the Jews as a body were promptly paid, that the laws against usury were obeyed, and who in turn was given jurisdiction in civil cases. This jurisdiction, which he exercised either personally if a scholar or through his deputy if not one, gave the Landesrabbiner an authority within the community. Inasmuch as the Jews from the sixteenth century lived almost exclusively in small communities and could not maintain a rabbi or a rabbinical court (which consisted of three members in every settlement), several communities in a district combined to do so. To this condition of things may be attributed the real creation of the office of Landesrabbiner, the former attempts to appoint a chief rabbi over all the Jews of a country—e.g., in Germany by Emperor Rupert
in 1407, and in Spain
, France
, and Portugal
, partly in the 14th, partly in the 15th, century—having been mostly abortive, and at all events merely fiscal measures designed for the purpose of tax-collecting (see Heinrich Grätz, "Gesch." viii. 8, 102, et passim; Scherer
, "Rechtsverhältnisse der Juden", p. 258; Bishop of the Jews; Hochmeister
). The first Landesrabbiner of whom there is authentic record is Judah Löw ben Bezaleel, of whom his contemporary David Gans
says that he was for 20 years (1553–73) the spiritual head ("ab bet din") of all the Jewish congregations in the province of Moravia ("Ẓemaḥ Dawid", year 5352).
had been expelled from the large cities like Brünn
and Olmütz (1454) and had settled where any well-disposed lord would receive them under his protection. As they formed communities too small to engage a well-qualified rabbi, they elected to act as their judge one having his seat in one of the largest congregations of the province. Similar conditions prevailed elsewhere. The Jews living in the principality of Bamberg
obtained in 1619 permission to elect a "Paumeister oder obristen Rabbi", and they may have had such an official earlier (Eckstein
, "Gesch. der Juden im Ehemaligen Fürstbistum Bamberg", pp. 62, 157, Bamberg, 1898). The communities of the principality of Oettingen, also formed from refugees of larger cities like Nördlingen
, had a Landesrabbiner from early times (Müller
, "Aus Fünf Jahrhunderten", p. 171, Augsburg
, 1900). The Jews living under the protection of the elector
and the Archbishop of Mayence had in 1718 Issachar Berush Eskeles as their Landesrabbiner (Bamberger
, "Historische Berichte über die Juden . . . Aschaffenburg
", p. 18, Strasbourg
, 1900). The title was occasionally conferred as a sign of distinction; thus Samson Wertheimer
received in 1717 from Emperor Charles VI. the title of Landesrabbiner of Hungary ("pro archi sive superiori Judæorum Rabbino"). His son-in-law, the above-named Eskeles, who (although he resided in Vienna, being connected with his father-in-law's banking business there) had succeeded his father, Gabriel Eskeles, as Landesrabbiner of Moravia, was appointed (1725) at Wertheimer's death his successor as Landesrabbiner of Hungary (Kaufmann
, "Samson Wertheimer", p. 104, Vienna
, 1888; Wurzbach
, "Biographisches Lexikon", s.v. "Eskeles").
, "Anshe Shem", pp. xix. et seq., Cracow, 1895). In Germany it was chiefly in the small states, where the governments directed all affairs, that the institution was established. Hesse-Cassel had a "Landesrabbinat", which was a board constituted on the same basis as the Protestant consistory, but with a Landesrabbiner as presiding officer. Its establishment was decreed in 1823. Hanover made similar provisions in the law of 1844 on Jewish affairs. Up to the present (1900s) it has had 3 Landesrabbiners, at Hanover
, Hildesheim
, and Emden
. Specially typical conditions existed in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where the government established the institution of Landesrabbiner May 14, 1839. Here the rabbis were at first supposed to introduce radical reforms, but after the revolution of 1848, when the policy of the government became reactionary, the newly elected rabbi was intended to strengthen "historic Judaism" (Donath
, "Gesch. der Juden in Mecklenburg
", pp. 221 et seq., Leipsic
, 1874). In Saxe-Weimar
the government used the Landesrabbiner to enforce the law of June 20, 1823, which ordered that services be held in German (see Hess
, Mendel). In Saxe-Meiningen the Landesrabbinat was organized by the law of Jan. 5, 1811 (Human
, "Gesch. der Juden im Herzogthum Sachsen-Meiningen-Hildburghausen", pp. 69 et seq., Hildburghausen
, 1898). Here as elsewhere in the small German states the object of the institution was to raise the moral and intellectual status of the Jews.
, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
, Oldenburg
, Birkenfeld
, Saxe-Meiningen
, Anhalt
, Brunswick
, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
. Prussia
, which always proclaimed the principle of non-interference in internal Jewish affairs, has retained the office in some of the provinces annexed in 1866, as in the 3 districts of Hanover and in the province of Hesse-Nassau (Cassel
). The office of Landesrabbiner for the province of Brandenburg
, which existed in Berlin
and in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, survived, as in other countries, up to the end of the 18th century by virtue of the rabbi's capacity as civil judge. The last one to hold the title was Hirschel Lewin, while his successor, Simon Mayer Weyl (d. 1828), held the title of "Vice[-]ober[-]landesrabbiner". As an exceptional favor the government in 1849 gave to Gedaliah Tiktin of Breslau the title of Landesrabbiner, which was interpreted as a manifestation of the government in favor of Orthodoxy
and as a disapproval of the Reform movement
(L. Geiger, "Abraham Geiger
's Leben in Briefen", pp. 113 et seq., Berlin, 1878).
In Austria Samson Hirsch held the office for the province of Moravia from 1847 to 1851. He was elected according to the complicated method prescribed in the law issued by Maria Theresa. At the time of his resignation the legal position of the Jewish communities was in a state of chaos owing to the events of 1848, which had played havoc with the principles on which the legislation rested. The government then appointed as substitute Abraham Placzek of Boskowitz, who in his last years had his son Baruch Placzek of Brünn
appointed as his assistant. An attempt made by Baron Moritz Königswarter, who was a member of the House of Lords
, to introduce into the law of 1890 regulating the legal status of the Austrian Jewish congregations a clause reestablishing the office of Landesrabbiner of Moravia was defeated in the lower house
of the Reichsrath (Löw
, "Das Mährische Landesrabbinat", in "Gesammelte Schriften", ii. 215-218, Szegedin, 1890; D'Elvert, "Zur Gesch. der Juden in Mähren und Oesterreich. Schlesien
", pp. 209–211, Brünn, 1895; Willibald Müller, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Mährischen Judenschaft", pp. 157–165, Olmütz, 1903). Baruch Placzek is, however, officially addressed by the government authorities as "Landesrabbiner"; he recently appointed Solomon Funk, rabbi of Boskowitz, as his substitute, an appointment which the government confirmed ("Oesterr. Wochenschrift", 1904, p. 190). The office existed also in Siebenbürgen early in the 19th century.
A similar institution is that of Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, which, however, rests exclusively on voluntary acknowledgement on the part of the congregations, and does not extend over whole groups of congregations like the Portuguese, the Reform, and the Polish organizations. The office of the Grand Rabbin du Consistoire Central in France is also of similar nature, but differs in that the chief rabbi acts merely in his capacity as member of the consistory
, and not as hierarchic chief.
Head
In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....
of the Jewish communities of a country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
, province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
, or district
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
; met with in several parts of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The office is a result of the legal condition of the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in medieval times when the Jewish communities formed a unit for the purposes of taxation. As the community had to pay certain taxes to the government, the latter had to appoint some one who should be responsible to it for their prompt collection, and who consequently had to be invested with a certain authority. The office of Landesrabbiner had no ecclesiastical meaning until the 18th century, when the various governments began to consider it their duty to care for the spiritual welfare of the Jews. Such ecclesiastical authority, owing to the strictly congregational constitution of the communities, never took root among the Jews (see, however, on the chief rabbinate of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
after the death of Marcus Benedict, Moses Sofer
Moses Sofer
Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, , , was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century...
, Responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 13).
Earliest Data
The transfer of the Jews from the status of imperial to that of territorial subjects, provided by the charter of Frederick II.Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
of Austria (1244) and recognized by Emperor Charles IV.
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
in his Golden bull
Golden Bull
A Golden Bull or chrysobull was a golden ornament representing a seal , attached to a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors and later by monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The term was originally coined for the golden seal itself but came to be applied to the entire decree...
(1356), as well as their very frequent expulsion from the large cities in the 15th and 16th centuries, scattered the Jews in small communities. These were without protection against the arbitrary action of petty tyrants; and they caused the rulers considerable inconvenience owing to constant litigation concerning encroachments on the rights of Jews living under their protection. Therefore the Jews of a given territory organized themselves into an association which elected an advocate ("Shtadlan
Shtadlan
A Shtadlan was an intercessor figure starting in Medieval Europe, who represented interests of the local Jewish community, especially those of a town's ghetto, and worked as a "lobbyist" negotiating for the safety and benefit of Jews with the authorities holding power...
") for the protection of their interests. Such an official was recognized by the government as the legal representative of the Jews, whose duty it was to see that the taxes imposed on the Jews as a body were promptly paid, that the laws against usury were obeyed, and who in turn was given jurisdiction in civil cases. This jurisdiction, which he exercised either personally if a scholar or through his deputy if not one, gave the Landesrabbiner an authority within the community. Inasmuch as the Jews from the sixteenth century lived almost exclusively in small communities and could not maintain a rabbi or a rabbinical court (which consisted of three members in every settlement), several communities in a district combined to do so. To this condition of things may be attributed the real creation of the office of Landesrabbiner, the former attempts to appoint a chief rabbi over all the Jews of a country—e.g., in Germany by Emperor Rupert
Rupert
Rupert is derived from the Latin Rupertus, which is a loan from the Old German Hroberahtus; thus it is a variation of modern English Robert, and can refer to:First name* Rupert of Germany , German King...
in 1407, and in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, partly in the 14th, partly in the 15th, century—having been mostly abortive, and at all events merely fiscal measures designed for the purpose of tax-collecting (see Heinrich Grätz, "Gesch." viii. 8, 102, et passim; Scherer
Scherer
Scherer, Schierer and Scherrer is a Christian, Swiss/German and Ashkenazic Jewish surname, and may refer to:- People :* Alfredo Scherer , Brazilian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church* Axel Scherer American physicist...
, "Rechtsverhältnisse der Juden", p. 258; Bishop of the Jews; Hochmeister
Hochmeister
The grand master is the holder of the supreme office of the Teutonic Order. It is equivalent to the grand master of other military orders and the superior general in non-military Roman Catholic religious orders...
). The first Landesrabbiner of whom there is authentic record is Judah Löw ben Bezaleel, of whom his contemporary David Gans
David Gans
----David ben Solomon ben Seligman Gans was a Jewish mathematician, historian, astronomer, astrologer, and is best known for the works Tzemach David and Nechmad ve'naim.- Early life :...
says that he was for 20 years (1553–73) the spiritual head ("ab bet din") of all the Jewish congregations in the province of Moravia ("Ẓemaḥ Dawid", year 5352).
From the 17th Century
At the time of Löw ben Bezaleel the congregations of Moravia were evidently very small. They were composed of refugees who through the influence of CapistranoCapistrano
- External links :* * * * *...
had been expelled from the large cities like Brünn
Brunn
Brunn or Brünn may refer to:Places* Brünn, the German form of the Czech city Brno* Brunn, Upper Palatinate, a town in Bavaria, Germany* Brunn, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany...
and Olmütz (1454) and had settled where any well-disposed lord would receive them under his protection. As they formed communities too small to engage a well-qualified rabbi, they elected to act as their judge one having his seat in one of the largest congregations of the province. Similar conditions prevailed elsewhere. The Jews living in the principality of Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
obtained in 1619 permission to elect a "Paumeister oder obristen Rabbi", and they may have had such an official earlier (Eckstein
Eckstein
Eckstein is a surname of German origin, meaning "cornerstone" . According to information gleaned from the U.S. Census, around 2,500 people in the United States have the surname Eckstein...
, "Gesch. der Juden im Ehemaligen Fürstbistum Bamberg", pp. 62, 157, Bamberg, 1898). The communities of the principality of Oettingen, also formed from refugees of larger cities like Nördlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
, had a Landesrabbiner from early times (Müller
Müller
The German word Müller means "miller" . It is the most common family surname in Germany and Switzerland and the fifth most common surname in Austria . Other forms are "Miller" and "Möller"...
, "Aus Fünf Jahrhunderten", p. 171, Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, 1900). The Jews living under the protection of the elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
and the Archbishop of Mayence had in 1718 Issachar Berush Eskeles as their Landesrabbiner (Bamberger
Bamberger
Bamberger as a surname may refer to:* Ármin Vámbéry , Hungarian orientalist* Cyril Stanley Bamberger , Battle of Britain Pilot* Eugen Bamberger , German chemist...
, "Historische Berichte über die Juden . . . Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
", p. 18, Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, 1900). The title was occasionally conferred as a sign of distinction; thus Samson Wertheimer
Samson Wertheimer
Samson Wertheimer was chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt. He was also an Austrian financier, court Jew and Shtadlan to Austrian Emperor Leopold I.-Family:...
received in 1717 from Emperor Charles VI. the title of Landesrabbiner of Hungary ("pro archi sive superiori Judæorum Rabbino"). His son-in-law, the above-named Eskeles, who (although he resided in Vienna, being connected with his father-in-law's banking business there) had succeeded his father, Gabriel Eskeles, as Landesrabbiner of Moravia, was appointed (1725) at Wertheimer's death his successor as Landesrabbiner of Hungary (Kaufmann
Kaufmann
Kaufmann is a surname with many variants such as Kauffmann, Kaufman, and Kauffman. In German, the name means merchant. It is the cognate of the English Chapman . "Kaufmann" may refer to:- Kaufmann :* Aloys P. Kaufmann , Mayor of St...
, "Samson Wertheimer", p. 104, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 1888; Wurzbach
Wurzbach
Wurzbach is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in southern Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 33 km southeast of Saalfeld, and 45 km northwest of Hof.-External links:*...
, "Biographisches Lexikon", s.v. "Eskeles").
As Spiritual Chiefs
In the course of the 18th century various governments attempted to influence the internal condition of the Jewish communities, and for this reason legislated with regard to their congregational constitutions. Typical in this respect is Maria Theresa, who in her "General-Polizei-Prozess und Kommercialordnung für die Judenschaft" of Moravia (December 29, 1753) prescribes in detail the duties of the Landesrabbiner; e.g., that he shall assign the tractate which all other rabbis shall adopt for instruction; bestow the title of "Doppelter Reb" ("Morenu"); see that all taxes are promptly paid; and arrange the complicated election of a new official (Willibald Müller, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Mähr. Judenschaft", pp. 86–99, Olmütz, 1903). Other provinces were to have a Landesrabbiner. Indeed, the empress appointed one for Galicia, but he had no successor (BuberBuber
Buber is a surname. It may refer to:* Martin Buber, Austrian-born Israeli Jewish scholar, socialist, Zionist, and prominent advocate of a joint Jewish-Arab state of Israel...
, "Anshe Shem", pp. xix. et seq., Cracow, 1895). In Germany it was chiefly in the small states, where the governments directed all affairs, that the institution was established. Hesse-Cassel had a "Landesrabbinat", which was a board constituted on the same basis as the Protestant consistory, but with a Landesrabbiner as presiding officer. Its establishment was decreed in 1823. Hanover made similar provisions in the law of 1844 on Jewish affairs. Up to the present (1900s) it has had 3 Landesrabbiners, at Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
, and Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
. Specially typical conditions existed in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where the government established the institution of Landesrabbiner May 14, 1839. Here the rabbis were at first supposed to introduce radical reforms, but after the revolution of 1848, when the policy of the government became reactionary, the newly elected rabbi was intended to strengthen "historic Judaism" (Donath
Donath
Donath may refer to:*Ferenc Donáth, an Hungarian communist*Gyula Donáth, Hungarian sculptor*Helen Donath*Judith Donath, professor at MIT's Media Lab*Ursula Donath, German athlete*Donath, Switzerland, a former municipality now a part of Donat, Switzerland...
, "Gesch. der Juden in Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
", pp. 221 et seq., Leipsic
Leipsic
Leipsic is the old English spelling for the German city of Leipzig.Leipsic may refer to:-Places:In Germany:* LeipzigIn the United States:* Leipsic, Delaware* Leipsic, Indiana* Leipsic, Ohio* West Leipsic, Ohio...
, 1874). In Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar.-Division of Leipzig:...
the government used the Landesrabbiner to enforce the law of June 20, 1823, which ordered that services be held in German (see Hess
Hess
Hess or Heß may refer to:* People with the surname Hess * Hess Educational Organization, the largest private provider of English instruction in the Republic of China...
, Mendel). In Saxe-Meiningen the Landesrabbinat was organized by the law of Jan. 5, 1811 (Human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
, "Gesch. der Juden im Herzogthum Sachsen-Meiningen-Hildburghausen", pp. 69 et seq., Hildburghausen
Hildburghausen
Hildburghausen is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the district Hildburghausen. It is situated on the river Werra, 20 km south of Suhl, and 25 km northwest of Coburg....
, 1898). Here as elsewhere in the small German states the object of the institution was to raise the moral and intellectual status of the Jews.
In the 19th century
At present only some of the small states of Germany have a Landesrabbiner, namely, Mecklenburg-SchwerinMecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1348, when Albert II of Mecklenburg and his younger brother John were raised to Dukes of Mecklenburg by King Charles IV...
, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy and later grand duchy in northern Germany, consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district , and the western exclave of the former Bishopric of Ratzeburg in modern...
, Oldenburg
Oldenburg
Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
, Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
, Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Meiningen
The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia....
, Anhalt
Anhalt
Anhalt was a sovereign county in Germany, located between the Harz Mountains and the river Elbe in Middle Germany. It now forms part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.- Dukes of Anhalt :...
, Brunswick
Duchy of Brunswick
Brunswick was a historical state in Germany. Originally the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the Holy Roman Empire, it was established as an independent duchy by the Congress of Vienna in 1815...
, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with capital at Sondershausen.-History:...
. Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, which always proclaimed the principle of non-interference in internal Jewish affairs, has retained the office in some of the provinces annexed in 1866, as in the 3 districts of Hanover and in the province of Hesse-Nassau (Cassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
). The office of Landesrabbiner for the province of Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
, which existed in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, survived, as in other countries, up to the end of the 18th century by virtue of the rabbi's capacity as civil judge. The last one to hold the title was Hirschel Lewin, while his successor, Simon Mayer Weyl (d. 1828), held the title of "Vice[-]ober[-]landesrabbiner". As an exceptional favor the government in 1849 gave to Gedaliah Tiktin of Breslau the title of Landesrabbiner, which was interpreted as a manifestation of the government in favor of Orthodoxy
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
and as a disapproval of the Reform movement
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
(L. Geiger, "Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...
's Leben in Briefen", pp. 113 et seq., Berlin, 1878).
In Austria Samson Hirsch held the office for the province of Moravia from 1847 to 1851. He was elected according to the complicated method prescribed in the law issued by Maria Theresa. At the time of his resignation the legal position of the Jewish communities was in a state of chaos owing to the events of 1848, which had played havoc with the principles on which the legislation rested. The government then appointed as substitute Abraham Placzek of Boskowitz, who in his last years had his son Baruch Placzek of Brünn
Brunn
Brunn or Brünn may refer to:Places* Brünn, the German form of the Czech city Brno* Brunn, Upper Palatinate, a town in Bavaria, Germany* Brunn, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany...
appointed as his assistant. An attempt made by Baron Moritz Königswarter, who was a member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, to introduce into the law of 1890 regulating the legal status of the Austrian Jewish congregations a clause reestablishing the office of Landesrabbiner of Moravia was defeated in the lower house
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
of the Reichsrath (Löw
Löw
-People:* Benjamin Wolf Löw , Polish-Hungarian rabbi* Franklin M. Loew, veterinarian* Hermann Loew, German entomologist* Isaak Löw Hofmann, Edler von Hofmannsthal* Joachim Löw, head coach of the National Football team of Germany...
, "Das Mährische Landesrabbinat", in "Gesammelte Schriften", ii. 215-218, Szegedin, 1890; D'Elvert, "Zur Gesch. der Juden in Mähren und Oesterreich. Schlesien
Austrian Silesia
Austrian Silesia , officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire, from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
", pp. 209–211, Brünn, 1895; Willibald Müller, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Mährischen Judenschaft", pp. 157–165, Olmütz, 1903). Baruch Placzek is, however, officially addressed by the government authorities as "Landesrabbiner"; he recently appointed Solomon Funk, rabbi of Boskowitz, as his substitute, an appointment which the government confirmed ("Oesterr. Wochenschrift", 1904, p. 190). The office existed also in Siebenbürgen early in the 19th century.
A similar institution is that of Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, which, however, rests exclusively on voluntary acknowledgement on the part of the congregations, and does not extend over whole groups of congregations like the Portuguese, the Reform, and the Polish organizations. The office of the Grand Rabbin du Consistoire Central in France is also of similar nature, but differs in that the chief rabbi acts merely in his capacity as member of the consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
, and not as hierarchic chief.
See also
- Oberrabbiner, or Großrabbiner (de)
- Chief rabbiChief RabbiChief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...