Adolf Reifenberg

Adolf Reifenberg (born March 8, 1899 Berlin , † August 27, 1953 in Jerusalem ) was an Israeli agricultural scientist and numismatist .

Life

Reifenberg received his training in Germany. At the University of Giessen he was awarded a Dr. phil. doctoral thesis on questions of chemistry in agriculture. After immigrating to the League of Nations mandate for Palestine in 1920, he first worked in Kibbutz Kinneret on the Jordan plain . In 1922 he came to Jerusalem, where he had participated in the preparations for the foundation of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1924 . During the Muslim riots in 1929, Reifenberg, who was a lecturer at the university at the time, was one of the few Germans abroad among the hundreds injured by anti-Jewish violence - none of the dead were Germans - whom the Jerusalem consulate had to report to the Foreign Office.

During World War II , Reifenberg served as a volunteer in the British Army . During a battle, his boat was torpedoed off Malta . Reifenberg could be saved, but the long stay in the cold sea led to a heart condition from which he finally died.

After the war, Reifenberg became Associate Professor in 1947 and Professor of Soil Science in 1952 at the Hebrew University. 1950–52 he served as dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and was later the first dean of the agricultural faculty.

Reifenberg's knowledge of agriculture and chemistry led him to explain terra rossa , a type of soil that is widespread in Mediterranean countries. He also dealt intensively with erosion , silting up and soil deterioration in the Middle East, especially in Israel.

His preoccupation with these topics also led him to the history of the Land of Israel. Reifenberg was particularly interested in archeology and numismatics . Together with Leo Arye Mayer , he discovered the synagogues of Eschtemoa and Nave (in the Hauran Mountains ). A lintel from Nave later served as the cover design for the Israel Exploration Journal , which was founded in 1950 by Reifenberg. He was also the first president of the Israel Numismatic Society, founded in 1951 . Reifenberg continued to conduct research in the field of ancient seals and art.

Fonts (in selection)

• Architecture and applied arts in ancient Israel. Löwit, Vienna et al. 1925.
• Palestinian cabaret (= library for art and antiques collectors. 31, ZDB -ID 518702-3 ). Schmidt, Berlin 1927.
• Monuments of the Jewish antiquity (= library of the Schocken Verlag. 75/76, ZDB -ID 521596-1 ). With an introduction by LA Mayer. Schocken-Verlag, Berlin 1937.
• The Soils of Palestine. Studies in Soil Formation and Land Utilization in the Mediterranean. T. Murby & Co., London 1938.
• Ancient Jewish Coins. In: Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society. Vol. 19, 1939/1941, ZDB -ID 219253-6 , pp. 59-81, 268-313, (as a special print: Syrian Orphanage Press, Jerusalem et al. 1940; and more often).
• Israel's History in Coins. From the Maccabees to the Roman Conquest. East and West Library, London 1953.
• The Struggle Between the Desert and the Sown. Rise and Fall of Agriculture in the Levant. Jewish Agency, Jerusalem 1955.

literature

• Professor A. Reifenberg 1899–1953 in memoriam. In: Israel Exploration Journal . Vol. 3, No. 4, 1953, pp. 213-216, JSTOR 27924534 .
• Milka Cassuto-Salzmann: Bibliography of A. Reifenberg. In: Israel Exploration Journal. Vol. 4, No. 3/4, 1954, pp. 143-149, JSTOR 27924574 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 659.
2. ↑ Walther Hess , Serious Unrest in Palestine , Report to the Foreign Office, Jerusalem: Typescript, August 29, 1929, printed in: Rolf Steininger (Ed.): The fight for Palestine. 1924-1939. Reports from the German consuls general in Jerusalem. Olzog, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7892-6813-7 , pp. 74–81, here p. 81.