Abraham Placzek (January 1799 – 10 December 1884) was a

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 ...

n rabbi, who served as

Landesrabbiner (; ) are spiritual leader, spiritual heads of the History of the Jews in Europe, Jewish communities of a country, province, or district, History of the Jews in Germany, particularly in Germany and Austria. The office is a result of the legal cond ...

from 1851 until his death. Placzek was born into a

Jewish family 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 ...

in Prerau,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now Přerov,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). In 1827 he became

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 ...

in his native city, and from 1832 to 1840 he officiated at Weisskirchen. We was then called to

Boskowitz Boskovice (; ) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. The area of the historic town centre, Jewish quarter, château complex and castle ruin is well preserved and is protec ...

, where he served as rabbi until his death. In October 1851, he succeeded

Samson Raphael Hirsch Samson Raphael Hirsch (; June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the '' Torah im Derech Eretz'' school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed ''neo-Orthodoxy'', hi ...

as acting

of Moravia. In this office he defended the rights of the Jews, and supported efforts against liturgical reform. Placzek was a prominent

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic scholar, as well as a successful teacher, and carried on correspondence with eminent rabbis, in whose collections of

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

his name is frequently mentioned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Placzek, Abraham 1799 births 1884 deaths 19th-century Czech rabbis Rabbis from the Austrian Empire Rabbis from Austria-Hungary Chief rabbis of Moravia Czech Orthodox rabbis People from Boskovice People from Přerov People from the Margraviate of Moravia