David Jacob Simonsen (; 17 March 1853 – 15 June 1932) was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He studied Oriental languages at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, and received his rabbinical training at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau, one of the centres for "

Wissenschaft des Judentums "''Wissenschaft des Judentums''" (literally in German language, German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the United States it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquir ...

", a movement advocating the scientific study of Jewish history, literature, and culture in addition to the classical sources of Judaism. After his graduation, Simonsen returned to Denmark, where he married Cora Caroline Salomon (1856–1938). He took a position with th
Community of Mosaic
and the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, and after the passing of long-time Chief Rabbi

Abraham Wolff Abraham Alexander Wolff (; 29 April 1801 – 3 December 1891) was the chief rabbi of Denmark and translator of the Torah into Danish language, Danish. Wolff was born in Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt, to the merchan ...

in 1891, Simonsen was named

chief rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

of Denmark. He served from 1821 to 1902 and again briefly from 1919 to 1920. In 1903, Simonsen was awarded the title of professor by the

. Simonsen's archives reflect the history of several scientific disciplines over a full half century. The list of correspondents contains the names of leading scientists within Oriental and

Jewish Studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...

but also from other areas, such as the classicist

Ada Adler Ada Sara Adler (18 February 1878 – 28 December 1946) was a Danish classical scholar and librarian. She is best known for her critical edition of the Byzantine encyclopedia ''Suda'' (5 vols., 1928–38), which still provides the standard text. ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Simonsen acted as "communication central", maintaining all the important contacts in Denmark and abroad, between organisations and individuals. He was also able to relay messages between relatives on different sides of the front, and after the war, he continued to be active in different relief organisations, both in Denmark and abroad. The approximately 25,000 volumes in Hebrew,

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, and several Western European languages, along with 190 volumes of manuscripts in some 15 languages from 20 countries were acquired by

The Royal Library ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

in 1932. Simonsen's collection forms the core of the library's Judaica Collection.

References

External links

The Royal Library's website about David Simonsen

David Simonsen
at Gravsted.dk {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsen, David 1932 deaths 1853 births 19th-century Danish Jews 20th-century Danish Jews 20th-century Danish rabbis 19th-century Danish rabbis Chief rabbis of Denmark Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen