Josef Rosenfeld
Josef Rosenfeld | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | יוסף רוזנפלד December 25, 1858 |
| Died | September 17, 1922 (aged 63) |
| Nationality | Austria-Hungary Kingdom of Romania |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
| Known for | Chief Rabbi of Czernowitz |
| Occupation | Rabbi, educator |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Denomination | Judaism |
| Yeshiva | Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest |
Josef Rosenfeld (1858–1922) was an Austro-Hungarian and Romanian rabbi and educator, who served as the Chief Rabbi of Czernowitz/Cernăuți (today Chernivtsi) from 1893 to 1922.[1]
Biography
Rosenfeld was born on 25 December 1858 in the town of Neustadtl (in present-day Slovakia), to Meir, who served as Av Beit Din (head of the rabbinical court) in his hometown. In his youth, he graduated from a high school in Miskolc, then he moved to Budapest to study at the Rabbinical Seminary, where he was a student of Wilhelm Bacher.[2]
In 1883, he was ordained as a rabbi in Berlin and received a Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig. He subsequently served as a rabbi for the Hamburg Jewish community. The more modern members of the congregation regarded him as holding rather traditional views, and as a result, they influenced the local government not to grant him German citizenship, which at that time was required for rabbis in Germany.[3]
From 1886 to 1893, Rosenfeld served as Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Orosháza, Hungary. In 1892, he was elected unanimously as the rabbi of Altona and Schleswig-Holstein, but, because he did not hold German citizenship, he served for only one year.[2] The same year, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Czernowitz, Abraham Eliezer Eliyahu Ha-Levi Igel, passed away, and Rosenfeld was appointed to succeed him a year later. During his tenure, he promoted education in Jewish studies and Jewish literature among the city's Jewish youth. He was also a member of the National Zionist Committee until his death.[2]
He continued to hold the position of chief rabbi of the city after the union of Bukovina with Romania in 1918.[4] Rosenfeld held this position until his death in 1922.[4] On 16 May 1920, the he greeted King Ferdinand I of Romania during his visit to Grand Synagogue of the city.[2]
Josef Rosenfeld died on 17 September 1922 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and was buried in the local Jewish cemetery.[5][2] He was succeeded as Chief Rabbi of Cernăuți by Abraham Jakob Mark.[4]
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "mfh/wwI/czernowitz", Museumoffamilyhistory.com, retrieved 2025-11-01
- ^ a b c d e Ediția festivă inchinată jubileului de 60 ani dela înaugurarea Templului Cernăuți Communitate evreească (PDF), 28 November 1937, retrieved 2025-11-01
- ^ "אוצר החכמה", Tablet.otzar.org, retrieved 2025-11-01
- ^ a b c "History of Jews in Bukowina (Volume II, page 28)", Jewishgen.org, retrieved 2025-11-01
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AjCiWppVS/