Adolf Jellinek ( ''Aharon Jelinek''; 26 June 1821 in Drslavice,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

– 28 December 1893 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

. After filling clerical posts in

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(1845–1856), he became a

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

at the Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna in 1856. Footnotes: ''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

,'' vii. 92-94. For a character sketch of Adolf Jellinek see S. Singer, ''Lectures and Addresses'' (1908), pp. 88–93; Kohut, ''Berühmte israelitische Männer und Frauen.''

Life and work

He was associated with the promoters of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, and wrote on the history of the

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

in the tradition of Western scholarship. Jellinek is also known for his work in German on Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia, one of the earliest students of Kabbalah who was born in Spain in 1240. Jellinek's bibliographies (each bearing the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

title ''Qontres'') were useful compilations, but his most important work lay in three other directions: midrashic, psychological and homiletic. In 1857 he was appointed preacher at the new Leopoldstadt synagogue in Vienna, remaining there until he went to the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, also in Vienna, in 1865. In 1862 Jellinek founded the Beit ha-Midrash Academy where public lectures were delivered by himself,

Isaac Hirsch Weiss Isaac (Isaak) Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss () (9 February 1815 – 1 June 1905), was an Jews of Austria, Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Velké Meziříčí, Groß Meseritsch, Habsburg Moravia. After having recei ...

, and Meir Friedmann. A scholarly periodical, also called ''Beit ha-Midrash'', was published under its auspices. Jellinek published in the six parts of his ''Beit ha-Midrash'' (the above mentioned periodical; 1853–1878) a large number of smaller Midrashim, ancient and medieval homilies and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

records, which have been of much service in the revival of interest in Jewish

apocalyptic literature Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post- Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. '' Apocalypse'' () is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding o ...

. A translation of these collections of Jellinek into German was undertaken by August Wuensche, under the general title ''Aus Israels Lehrhallen''. Before the study of ethnic psychology had become a science, Jellinek devoted attention to the subject. There is much keen analysis and original investigation in his two essays ''Der jüdische Stamm'' (1869) and ''Der jüdische Stamm in nicht-jüdischen Sprichwörtern'' (1881–1882). Jellinek compared the Jewish temperament to that of women in its quickness of perception, versatility and sensibility. Jellinek was probably the greatest

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

orator of the 19th century. He published some 200 sermons, in most of which are displayed unobtrusive learning, fresh application of old sayings, and a high conception of Judaism and its claims. According to Abrahams, Jellinek was a powerful

apologist Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their fa ...

and an accomplished homilist, at once profound and ingenious.

Family

His wife was Rosalie Bettelheim (1832 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

– 1892 in Baden bei Wien). Their family included: The eldest son, Georg Jellinek (1851–1911), professor of international law at

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

. Another son, Max Hermann Jellinek (1868–1938), was made assistant professor of German philology at Vienna University in 1892, became an associate professor in 1900 and was a full professor from 1906 until 1934, and from 1919 also a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.''IGL 1800-1950'', p.844
/ref> A third son, Emil Jellinek (1853–1918), was an automobile entrepreneur, whose daughter Mercedes inspired the brand name of Mercedes and eventually

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

. His daughter Paula Jellinek married a lawyer, Dr. Jur. Heinrich Wechsberg and was the aunt of psychiatrist Erwin Wexberg. A brother of Adolf, Hermann Jellinek (born 1823), was executed at the age of 26 on account of his association with the Hungarian national movement of 1848. One of Hermann Jellinek's best-known works was '' Uriel Acosta''. Another brother, Moritz Jellinek (1823–1883), was an accomplished economist, and contributed to the Academy of Sciences essays on the price of cereals and on the statistical organization of the country. He founded the Budapest tramway company (1864) and was also president of the corn exchange.

References

* A. J.: ''Gedächtnißrede auf die im letzten Kriege gefallenen Soldaten israelitischer Religion'' (Vienna: Herzfeld & Bauer, 1867) * David Bakan, ''Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition'' (D. Van Nostrand Company, 1958).

External links

''Encyclopedia Britannica'': "Adolf Jellinek: European Jewish rabbi and scholar"''Jewish Encyclopedia'': "Jellinek"
by Adolph Kurrein, Max Weisz, Frederick Haneman, Ludwig Venetianer, and Isidore Singer (1906).
Beth ha-Midrasch at Google Books

Digitized works by Adolf Jellinek
at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jellinek, Adolf 1821 births 1893 deaths Rabbis from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Czech people Czech Reform rabbis Austrian Reform rabbis Chief rabbis of Vienna 19th-century Austrian rabbis Chief rabbis of Austria Austrian expatriates in Germany Czech expatriates in Germany Moravian rabbis Austrian people of Czech-Jewish descent People from Uherské Hradiště District