Meyer Kayserling was a German rabbi and historian.

Life

He was educated at Halberstadt

Halberstadt

Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....

, Nikolsburg

Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...

 (Moravia), Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

, and 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...

. He devoted himself to history and philosophy. Encouraged in historical researches by Leopold von Ranke

Leopold von Ranke

Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...

, Kayserling turned his attention to the history and literature of the Jews of Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

.

In 1861 the Aargau

Aargau

Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

 government appointed him rabbi of the Swiss Jews, which office he held until 1870. During his residence in Switzerland he argued in favor of civil equality for his coreligionists, both then and later facing the charges brought against them.

In 1870 he accepted a call as preacher and rabbi to the Jewish community of Budapest. Kayserling was a member of the Royal Academy in Madrid, of the Trinity Historical Society, and others.

Kayserling was the brother of writer and educator Simon Kayserling

Simon Kayserling

Simon Kayserling was a German educator and writer; born at Hanover 31 August 1834; died there 22 April 1898; brother of Meyer Kayserling. He attended the Talmud school in Würzburg and the University of Berlin. He was the principal teacher and inspector of the M. M...

.

Works

He was the author of the following works:

• Moses Mendelssohn's Philosophische und Religiöse Grundsätze mit Hinblick auf Lessing, Leipsic, 1856.
• Sephardim. Romanische Poesien der Juden in Spanien. Ein Beitrag zur Literatur und Gesch. der Spanisch-Portugiesischen Juden, Leipsic, 1859; Hebrew transl. in "Ha-Asif," iv., v.
• Ein Feiertag in Madrid. Zur Gesch. der Spanisch-Portugiesischen Juden, Berlin, 1859.
• Gesch. der Juden in Navarra, den Baskenländern und auf den Balearen, oder Gesch. der Juden in Spanien, I., Berlin, 1861.
• Menasse ben Israel. Sein Leben und Wirken. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Juden in England, Berlin, 1861; English transl. by F. de Sola Mendes, London, 1877.
• Moses Mendelssohn. Sein Leben und Seine Werke, Leipsic, 1862; a second edition of this work, enlarged and revised, bears the title "Moses Mendelssohn. Sein Leben und Wirken," Leipsic, 1888.
• Der Dichter Ephraim Kuh. Ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Deutschen Literatur, Berlin, 1864.
• Zum Siegesfeste. Dankpredigt und Danklieder von Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, 1866.
• Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, Berlin, 1867.
• Die Rituale Schlachtfrage, oder Ist Schächten Thierquälerei? Aargau, 1867.
• Bibliothek Jüdischer Kanzelredner. Eine Chronologische Sammlung der Predigten, Biographien und Charakteristiken der Vorzüglichsten Jüdischen Prediger. Nebst einem Homiletischen und Literarischen Beiblatte, 2 vols., Berlin, 1870-72.
• Die Judeninsel und der Schiffbruch bei Koblenz, Baden, 1871.
• Die Jüdischen Frauen in der Geschichte, Literatur und Kunst, Leipsic, 1879; translated into Hungarian by M. Reismann, Budapest, 1883.
• Das Moralgesetz des Judenthums in Beziehung auf Familie, Staat und Gesellschaft, published anonymously, Vienna, 1882.
• Die Blutbeschuldigung von Tisza-Eszlár Beleuchtet; also in Hungarian, Budapest, 1882.
• Der Wucher und das Judenthum; also in Hungarian, Budapest, 1882.
• Moses Mendelssohn. Ungedrucktes und Unbekanntes von Ihm und über Ihn, Leipsic, 1883.
• Refranos é Proverbios de los Judios Españoles, Budapest, 1889.
• Biblioteca Española-Portugueza-Judaica. Dictionnaire Bibliographique, Strasburg, 1890.
• Dr. W. A. Meisel. Ein Lebens- und Zeitbild, Leipsic, 1891.
• Sterbetage aus Alter und Neuer Zeit, Prague, 1891.
• Gedenkblätter. Hervorragende Jüdische Persönlichkeiten des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. In Kurzen Charakteristiken, Leipsic, 1892.
• Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries, translated from the author's manuscript by Charles Gross, New York, 1894; German ed., Berlin, 1894; Hebrew transl., Warsaw, 1895.
• Die Jüdische Litteratur von Moses Mendelssohn bis auf die Gegenwart, reprinted from Winter and Wünsche, "Die Jüdische Litteratur seit Abschluss des Kanons," Treves, 1896.
• Ludwig Philippson
  Ludwig Philippson
  Ludwig Philippson was a German rabbi and author, the son of Moses Philippson.He was educated at the gymanasium of Halle and at the University of Berlin, and maintained himself by tutoring and by doing literary work...
  
  . Eine Biographie, Leipsic, 1898.
• Die Juden als Patrioten, a lecture, Berlin, 1898.
• Die Juden von Toledo, a lecture, Leipsic, 1901.
• Isaak Aboab III. Sein Leben und Seine Dichtungen, in Hebrew, Berdychev, 1902.

Besides these works and a number of sermons published at different times, Kayserling contributed to the different Jewish magazines published in Hebrew, German, English, and French; he also issued a new revised edition of Hecht's Handbuch der Israelitischen Gesch. (1874; 7th ed., 1901). From 1884 he prepared the part of the Jahresberichte der Geschichtsforschung (Berlin) which treated Jewish history.

External links