Meyer Kayserling
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Meyer Kayserling (also '' Meir'' or ''Moritz'', 17 June 1829 – 21 April 1905) was a German rabbi and historian.


Life

Kayserling was born in Gleidingen near
Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
, and was the brother of writer and educator Simon Kayserling. He was educated at
Halberstadt Halberstadt (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany, the capital of Harz (district), Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town ...
, at Nikolsburg (Moravia) where he studied under
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 ...
, at
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
where he studied under S.J. Rapoport, at
Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
where he studied under Seligman Baer Bamberger, and finally at the
Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
. He devoted himself to history and philosophy. Encouraged in historical researches in Berlin by
Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...
, Kayserling turned his attention to the history and literature of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1861 the government of
Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...
appointed him rabbi of the two Swiss Jewish municipalities of Endingen and Lengnau in Surbtal, an office he held until 1870. During his residence in Switzerland he argued in favor of civil equality for his coreligionists, and also maintained contacts with high-ranking Swiss politicians such as Jakob Dubs,
Emil Welti Friedrich Emil Welti known as Emil Welti (23 April 1825 – 24 February 1899) was a Swiss politician, lawyer and judge. From 1856 to 1866, he was a member of the government of the canton of Aargau and, beginning in 1857, the Council of States. In ...
, and Augustin Keller. Kayserling founded the Swiss Jewish Cultural Society (''Kulturverein der Israeliten in der Schweiz'') which campaigned for the civil rights of Jews in the Aargau region (achieved in 1879). In the Aargau, the Jewish communities were given special exemption from a law requiring that animals had to killed by a blow to the head. Proponents of
animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...
attacked this exemption for the purposes of
shechita In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. One who practices this, a kosher butcher is called a ''sho ...
. Kayserling (1869) published a pamphlet in defence of the practice. The society for animal rights and the Jewish community reached a compromise in 1889, which required the animals to be anasthesized before shechita. Nevertheless, the practice of shechita was outlawed in Switzerland in the first
popular initiative A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put directly to a plebiscite o ...
, in 1893.Alex Baur: "Streit ums Vieh". In: ''Die Weltwoche'' 51/09, 16 Dezember 2009. Bereits 1854 schrieb der Kanton Aargau die Tötung des Viehs mittels Kopfschlag gesetzlich vor. Davon ausgenommen waren jedoch die jüdischen Gemeinden von Lengnau und Endingen. Ihnen war das Schächten gestattet. In Genf fanden der «Thierschutzverein» und die Israelitische Gemeinde 1889 einen Kompromiss: Das Schlachtvieh musste beim Schächten betäubt werden. Dasselbe wurde schliesslich auch in der eidgenössischen Volksinitiative verlangt. In 1870, Kayserling accepted a call as preacher and rabbi to the Jewish community of Budapest, where he died 35 years later, aged 75. Kayserling was a member of the Royal Academy in Madrid and of the Trinity Historical Society.


Works

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 Geschichte'' (1874; 7th ed., 1901). From 1884 he prepared the part of the ''Jahresberichte der Geschichtsforschung'' (Berlin) which treated Jewish history. Selected works: *1856, Moses Mendelssohn's Philosophische und Religiöse Grundsätze mit Hinblick auf Lessing, Leipzig *1859, Sephardim. Romanische Poesien der Juden in Spanien. Ein Beitrag zur Literatur und Geschichte der Spanisch-Portugiesischen Juden, Leipzig *1859, Ein Feiertag in Madrid. Zur Geschichte der Spanisch-Portugiesischen Juden, Berlin. *1861, Geschichte der Juden in Navarra, den Baskenländern und auf den Balearen, oder Geschichte der Juden in Spanien, I., Berlin. *1861, Menasse ben Israel. Sein Leben und Wirken. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Juden in England, Berlin; English transl. by F. de Sola Mendes, London, 1877. *1862, Moses Mendelssohn. Sein Leben und Seine Werke, Leipzig; a second edition of this work, enlarged and revised, bears the title "Moses Mendelssohn. Sein Leben und Wirken," Leipzig, 1888. *1864, Der Dichter Ephraim Kuh. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur, Berlin. *1866, Zum Siegesfeste. Dankpredigt und Danklieder von Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin. *1867, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal, Berlin. *1867, Die Rituale Schlachtfrage, oder Ist Schächten Thierquälerei? Aargau.
ub.uni-frankfurt.de
*1870-72, Bibliothek Jüdischer Kanzelredner. Eine Chronologische Sammlung der Predigten, Biographien und Charakteristiken der Vorzüglichsten Jüdischen Prediger. Nebst einem Homiletischen und Literarischen Beiblatte, 2 vols., Berlin. *1871, Die Judeninsel und der Schiffbruch bei Koblenz, Baden. *1879, ''Die Jüdischen Frauen in der Geschichte, Literatur und Kunst'', Leipzig, Brockhaus; translated into Hungarian by M. Reismann, Budapest, 1883. *1882, 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. *1883, Moses Mendelssohn. Ungedrucktes und Unbekanntes von Ihm und über Ihn, Leipzig. *1889, Refranos é Proverbios de los Judios Españoles, Budapest. *1890, Biblioteca Española-Portugueza-Judaica. Dictionnaire Bibliographique, Strasbourg. *1891, Dr. W. A. Meisel. Ein Lebens- und Zeitbild, Leipzig. *1891, Sterbetage aus Alter und Neuer Zeit, Prague. *1892, Gedenkblätter. Hervorragende Jüdische Persönlichkeiten des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. In Kurzen Charakteristiken, Leipzig. *1894, 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. *1896, Die Jüdische Litteratur von Moses Mendelssohn bis auf die Gegenwart, reprinted from Winter and Wünsche, "Die Jüdische Litteratur seit Abschluss des Kanons," Treves. *1898, Ludwig Philippson. Eine Biographie, Leipzig. *1898, Die Juden als Patrioten, a lecture, Berlin. *1901, Die Juden von Toledo, a lecture, Leipzig. *1902, Isaak Aboab III. Sein Leben und Seine Dichtungen, in Hebrew, Berdychev.


Reference Notes


Sources

*Cecil Roth: KAYSERLING, MEYER in: ''
Encyclopedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...
'' 9, 1972, p. 1106 . * Hans Lamm: Kayserling, Meyer. In: ''
Neue Deutsche Biographie (''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...
'' (NDB) 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, p. 386. *''Das Literarische Deutschland'', Berlin, 1887. *L. Philippson, ''Biography of Meyer Kayserling'' (1898). *W. A. Meisel, ''Ein Lebens-und Zeitbild'' … (1891). *M. Weisz, ''Bibliographie der Schriften Dr. M. Kayserlings'' (1929). *E. Neumann (ed.), ''Kayserling'' (1906).


External links

*''
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 ...
''
"Kayserling, Meyer"
by
Isidore Singer Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939) was an Austrian-born American encyclopedist and editor of '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Biography Singer was born in 1859 in ...
(1906). *''
Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...
''
"Meyer Kayserling"
(2008). *
Literature by and about Meyer Kayserling in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica

Digitized works by Meyer Kayserling
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:Kayserling, Meyer 19th-century German rabbis 19th-century German historians Swiss rabbis 19th-century Hungarian rabbis German Hispanists German expatriates in Switzerland German expatriates in Hungary Clergy from Hanover 1829 births 1905 deaths Contributors to the Jewish Encyclopedia Jewish encyclopedists German male non-fiction writers Humboldt University of Berlin alumni