Maier Zipser, Hungarian

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

 rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

; born at Balassagyarmat

Balassagyarmat

Balassagyarmat is a town in northern Hungary. It was the seat of the Nógrád comitatus.- History :The town's coat-of-arms bears the Latin inscription "Civitas Fortissima" , because in January 1919 Czechoslovak troops crossed the demarcation line delineated in December 1918 in preparation for the...

, 14 August 1815; died at Rechnitz

Rechnitz

Rechnitz is a municipality in Burgenland in the Oberwart district in Austria with a population of 3,133.- Geography :The municipality is located in southern Burgenland, on the border with Hungary, near Bozsok and Szombathely...

, 10 December 1869. He studied in various yeshibot, among his teachers being Wolf Boskowitz and Maier Eisenstadt; and he acquired a secular education partly through the assistance of Löw Schwab and partly through his own endeavors. In 1844 he was chosen rabbi at Stuhlweissenburg, where, however, he became involved in a controversy with the Orthodox members of the community on account of a divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

 which he had granted without a precedent. In his defense he wrote a pamphlet entitled Me ha-Shiloaḥ: Rabbinisches Gutachten über Jüdische Ehescheidung (Budapest, 1853). About 1850 he went to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where he published a pamphlet entitled The Sermon on the Mount, defending Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 against the parliamentary speeches of Inglis

Inglis

Inglis is a modern surname, derived from Early Modern and Middle English forms of the word English.- Surname :May refer to:* Agnes Inglis , American anarchist* Alfred Inglis , Kent county cricketer...

 (London, 1852). In 1858 Zipser was elected rabbi of Rechnitz, and he held this position until his death. In addition to the two pamphlets already mentioned, he published various sermons and made numerous contributions to the Jewish press, especially to the Orient, the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, and the Neuzeit, winning the reputation of being one of the most scholarly Hungarian rabbis of his day.