Abraham Kohn (June 13, 1806 in

Zalužany Zalužany () is a municipality and village in Příbram District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 300 inhabitants. Etymology The name is derived from or , i.e. "behind a meadow". It referred to its location. Geo ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

– September 7, 1848 at Lemberg, Galicia) was the liberal Chief

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 ...

of Lemberg, and was poisoned to death. In 1828, he entered the University of Prague, where he applied himself to philosophy, while devoting his spare time to rabbinical studies. In July, 1833, he was appointed rabbi of Hohenems, Vorarlberg, where he remained for eleven years. Besides organizing various charitable societies, he greatly improved the educational facilities for the young, and introduced many reforms into the public service. In May, 1844, he accepted the rabbinate of Lemberg. Here in a comparatively short time he opened a well-equipped "Normalschule" of which he was the superintendent, dedicated a new reform temple, abolished many old abuses, and did not rest until the degrading tax on

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meat and Sabbath candles, imposed upon the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community by the government, was removed. In 1902 the Lviv/Lemberg Jewish community commissioned a portrait of Abraham Kohn. The posthumous portrait was painted by a Lviv-based Jewish painter Wilhelm Wachtel (1875-1952). Presently this portrait is in the collection of the Voznytsky Lviv National Gallery in

Lviv, Ukraine Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Death

While the less traditional element rallied about him, the traditionalists of the community bitterly protested changes to their religion. On September 6, 1848, Abraham Ber Pilpel, said to be hired by a fanatical clique, entered Kohn's kitchen and poisoned the family's dinner with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

. While the other members of his family recovered, Kohn and his youngest daughter (cf. "Reformed Judaism and its Pioneers" by E. Schreiber, where he writes that the only victim of the murder was Rabbi Kohn himself and the rest of the family recovered), died the following day. After Kohn died Pilpel stood trial for his murder and was convicted. However, on appeal this was overturned. After the verdict was overturned, it was again reviewed by the highest court and the appellate court's judgment was upheld.

Sources and references

* *

Michael Stanislawski Michael F. Stanislawski (born 1952) is the Nathan J. Miller Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University. He obtained his B.A. (1973), M.A. (1975) Ph.D. (1979) from Harvard University, and has been at Columbia since 1980. His dissertation, ...

A Murder in Lemberg: Politics, Religion, and Violence in Modern Jewish History
(Princeton University Press, 2007)

*

Jonatan Meir Jonatan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jonatan (footballer) (born 1992), Brazilian football midfielder, full name Jonatan da Silva Lima *Jonatan Berg (born 1985), Swedish football midfielder *Jonatan Berggren (born 2000), ...

'Review of Michael Stanislawski, A Murder in Lemberg: Politics, Religion, and Violence in Modern Jewish History, Jerusalem 2010
, GAL-ED 24 (2015), pp. 173–176

External links

''Nachgelassene Schriften Abraham Kohn's, mit einer Biographie desselben''
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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohn, Abraham 1807 births 1848 deaths Charles University alumni 19th-century Czech rabbis Deaths by poisoning