Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind Kohen

Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind Kohen

Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind Kohen , also Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind Cohen , Raphael Cohen (born November 4, 1722 in Druja an der Düna , Grand Duchy of Lithuania ; died on November 11, 1803 in Altona / Elbe , Duchy of Holstein ) was a rabbi .

Live and act

Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind Kohen was the son of the Livonian rabbi Jekutiel-Süsskind Cohen and the Bunia. In 1734 he went to the yeshiva of Lion Asser (Aryeh Löb ben Asher) called Ša'agath 'Aryeh in Minsk . In 1736 he returned to his hometown. There he worked as a businessman and private scholar. During this time he married his wife Tamar (died 1808).

In 1742 he took over the management of the yeshiva in Minsk. In the following years he was elected rabbi of several Jewish communities: In addition to the Rabinnat in Rakov in 1744, he was rabbi in Wilkomir from 1747 to 1757 . From 1745 or 1757 he was chief rabbi in Minsk and in Pinsk and Smolewitschi . From 1771 or 1772 he was a rabbi in Poznan . In 1771 he visited Berlin and published the text Torat Yetukiel there . The local community offered him a job as a rabbi, which Kohen did not accept for unknown reasons.

In 1776 he went to Hamburg , where he became chief rabbi of the so-called Dreigemeinde, consisting of the cities of Hamburg, Altona and Wandsbek and Schleswig-Holstein. Kohen followed Jonathan Eybeschütz here .

Kohen, who did not speak the German language, was highly regarded across the region and tried to prevent the Jewish community from assimilating into contemporary culture. He sensed that the translation of the Bible published by Moses Mendelssohn could support a reform of Judaism and therefore tried to prevent the spread of the scriptures. However, he did not succeed in establishing the religious laws as a priority in the everyday life of the Jewish community. The reason for this was probably the Danish government, which restricted the application of religious laws.

In 1799 Kohen resigned from all offices. He planned to emigrate to Jerusalem , but this did not succeed because of the Napoleonic Wars .

Kohen was married to Tamar (died 1808), according to some sources already as a child, according to other sources they married at the age of 18. The couple's tombstones are located in the Jewish cemetery in Königstrasse in Altona.

Her daughter married the Öttingen regional rabbi.

Publications

• Photomechanical reprints of his works as a complete edition: Brooklyn 1966-1970:
  • Volume I: Marpe 'Lāšōn (Altona 1790) and the homilies, 1966.
  • Volume II: Responsen , 1969.
  • Volume III: Responsen, 1970.

literature

• Hamburg correspondent. No. 114, Hamburg, July 17, 1779.
• AF Cranz: About the abuse of spiritual power or worldly rule in matters of faith by examples from the current century. Berlin 1781, p. 29.
• Samuel Holdheim : On the autonomy of rabbis and the principle of Jewish marriage. A contribution on some of the contemporary issues relating to Judaism. Kürschner, Schwerin 1843 ( digitized version ) p. 4.
• Monthly for the history and science of Judaism. 14, Dresden, Breslau, Berlin 1851-1939, p. 261.
• Heinrich Graetz : History of the Jews from the oldest times to the present. Vol. XI, Leipzig 1869; 3rd edition edit. by Marcus Brann , Leipzig o. J. [1893], pp. 41, 138, 155 ff., 391, 557 f.
• R. Raphael Cohn. A picture of life from the previous century by C. In: Jüdische Presse. Organ for the Religious Interests of Judaism. Berlin 1872, No. 34, p. 276 ( digital version with compact memory ), No. 37, p. 298 ff. ( Digitized version ), No. 38, 306 f. ( Digitized version ), No. 40, p. 323 f. ( Digitized version ), N. 43, 347 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Elieser Leiser Landshuth: Tōledōth 'anšē ha-Šem ūfe' ūlathām ba'adath Berlīn, 1671-1871. Berlin 1884, pp. 81, 87.
• Chaim Nathan Dembitzer: Kelīllath Yōfī. Tōledōth hā-rabbānīm 'ašär šimmešūb eketär hā-rabanūth be'īr Levōv. Volume II, Krakow 1893, p. 78b.
• Benzion Eisenstadt: Rabbānē Mīnsq wahachāmēha. Vilnius 1899, p. 17.
• Max Grunwald : Hamburg's German Jews up to the dissolution of the triple congregation. Hamburg 1904, p. 84 f.
• Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. III, Orient Printing House, Czernowitz 1928, p. 486.
• Encyclopaedia Judaica . Judaism in the past and present. Ten volumes, Eschkol, Berlin 1929-1934, p. 173 f. (German).
• Encyclopaedia Judaica. 16 volumes, Keter Verlag, Jerusalem 1972, Volume X, p. 1139 (English).
• Peter Freimark: The development of the rabbinate after the death of Jonathan Eibenschütz (1764) up to the dissolution of the three congregation AHU (1812). In: Peter Freimark and Arno Herzig (eds.): The Hamburg Jews in the Emancipation Phase 1780-1870. Hamburg 1989, p. 12.
• Entry COHEN, Raphael. In: Michael Brocke and Julius Carlebach (editors), edited by Carsten Wilke : Biographisches Handbuch der Rabbis. Part 1: The rabbis of the emancipation period in the German, Bohemian and Greater Poland countries 1781-1871. K G Saur, Munich 2004, p. 234 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Andreas Brämer: Kohen, Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 3 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0081-4 , p. 208 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Bernhard Friedberg: Raphael ben Jekuthiel Süsskind Ha-Kohen Entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia 1906 (English). Retrieved October 6, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Andreas Brämer: Kohen (also: Cohen), Rafael ben Jekutiel Süsskind on: dasjuedischehamburg.de. Retrieved October 6, 2015
4. ↑ According to Tamar's tombstone, the marriage lasted 68 years, i.e. since 1735
5. ↑ After Eduard Duckesz.
6. ↑ Max Grunwald: Hamburg's German Jews up to the dissolution of the Dreigemeinde. Hamburg 1904, SS 239 f.
7. ↑ Michael Studemund-Halévy and Gaby Zürn: Don't destroy memories. The Jewish cemetery Königstrasse in Hamburg. Hamburg 2002, p. 152 Photo.