Sinai boatmen

Rabbi Sinai Schiffer, around 1905

Sinai Schiffer (born November 17, 1852 in Námesztó , Hungary , † October 25, 1923 in Karlsruhe ) was a Hungarian-German rabbi of the Israelite Religious Society in Karlsruhe, educator and expert on Jewish law.

life and work

Sinai Schiffer ( Hebrew סיני בן יקותיאל זאב שיפפער), Son of Rabbi Jekutiel Se'ew Schiffer and Hadassa, came from a family of Torah scholars from northern Slovakia (then Hungary). After the early death of his father, Sinai moved to Niepołomice , then - while still a child - to his uncle Emanuel Deutsch, with whom he learned the beginnings of the Torah and Talmud . At the age of 17 he attended the yeshiva in Pressburg , became a student of the renowned Ksav Sofer and briefly worked as an educator for a family in Rawitsch . From 1872 to 1875 he attended the teaching establishment of the Sefath-Emeth-Verein in Berlin, in the same year he was accepted into the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary under the direction of Esriel Hildesheimer . After completing the high school department there in 1877, he studied philosophy, education and oriental languages at the Berlin University until the winter semester of 1880/81 . At the same time, Sinai Schiffer continued to attend the rabbinical seminary, where in May 1881 he graduated from the Semicha with a “brilliant”. Shortly afterwards he was appointed collegiate rabbi in Hanover, and on January 1, 1884, he was appointed rabbi of the new Orthodox Israelite Religious Society in Karlsruhe. In 1884 he received his doctorate with a thesis on the book Kohelet at the University of Leipzig.

In 1886, Dr. Schiffer and Paula Esther (Perl) born Herzmann from the Galician Żurawno . Three daughters were born out of the marriage: Dr. phil. Tzippora Lieben (* 1887), Röschen (Rejsl) Adler (* 1890) and Dr. med. Martha Weil (* 1893).

Rabbi Schiffer, who exercised the office of rabbinical judge, published, among other things, biographies on Moses Montefiore and Moses Mendelssohn , responses and legal opinions in the field of Halacha . He dealt with social issues of the time and was considered a great rabbinical authority of New Orthodoxy in the spirit of Samson Raphael Hirsch .

On a foggy autumn morning, early on October 25, 1923, he was thrown to the ground on the way from the apartment in Waldhornstrasse to the synagogue by a tram that was noticed too late and died that same evening. The next day, a Friday, he was solemnly buried in the new cemetery of his community in Karlsruhe before Shabbat began .

The Israelitische Kindergarten-Verein in Karlsruhe emerged from a foundation by Rabbi Schiffers , which until 1938 offered religious kindergarten education in line with Froebel and Montessori for children of all backgrounds in its own rooms at Karl-Friedrich-Straße 16 . "His whole life was a sublime dream of all good and saints," it says in an obituary.

Works (selection)

• The book of Kohelet in the Talmud and Midrash . Hanover, 1884. VIII, 140 p. Zugl. Leipzig, Univ., Diss., 1884. VII, 140 pp.
• The Pirke Aboth and its use for religious instruction . - Frankfurt a. M .: Kaufmann, 1895. 16 pp.
• The exercise of Mezizoh: Unit, reimbursed in d. General Assembly d. Rabbi Commission d. "Free Association for Interests of Orthodox Judaism" on June 7, 1906 in Frankfurt a. M. - Frankfurt a. M .: Golde, 1906. 28 pp.
• Cremation from the standpoint of Halacha . Frankfurt a. M .: Golde, 1912. 27 pp.
• Talmudic miscelles. In: Jeschurun ​​(new episode) . 3rd year 1916, pp. 165–169 online version (PDF; 4.9 MB)
• Sitri u'magini [Eng .: my protection and my shield]. - Tyrnau / Karlsruhe: Rabinowitz, 1932. 112 pp.

literature

• "Skipper, Sinai". In: Eliav, Mordechai et al .: The Berlin Rabbinical Seminary 1873–1938: its founding history - its students. Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich, 2008, p. 232 f. (= Series of publications by the Centrum Judaicum ; 5)
• Aryeh Weil: Sinai Schiffer. Portrait of an Orthodox German Rabbi 1880–1920 . MA Thesis, Yeshiva University New York, unpublished Mskr. [1980]
• Sinai Schiffer: Curriculum Vitae. In: The Book of Kohelet in the Talmud and Midrash . Hanover, 1884, unpaginated final sheet.
• Div. Authors in: Der Israelit , November 22, 1922, p. 7; November 1, 1923, p. 6; November 2, 1933, p. 10; April 23, 1931, p. 11 and others; Jewish Press , November 16, 1923, p. 363; Jeschurun , No. 4, 1884, p. 57

Web links

• Correspondence between R 'Schiffer and his son-in-law S. Lieben (with facsimile, Heb.)

Demarcation

An orientalist with a similar name is occasionally confused with Rabbi Schiffer in literature and bibliographies : Sina Schiffer , b. 1878, son of Jonas Schiffer from Wadowice, wrote his dissertation on the history of the Arameans in Leipzig in 1908 and worked in Paris.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 6. Kislev 5613
2. ↑ according to the tombstone in Karlsruhe "on the eve of the 15th Marcheschwan 5684"
3. ↑ The title page of Sinai Schiffer's work Tisporet Hazaken (1912) contains the reference to the father as "מוה" ר = מורנו הרב ", see hebrewbooks.org
4. ↑ died April 19, 1931 in Karlsruhe
5. ↑ Tzippora Lieben and Röschen Adler later fell victim to the Holocaust, cf. Memorial sheets at yadvashem.org
6. ^ Civil status registers of Jewish communities in Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern, list of graves 1872–1940, HStA Stuttgart J 386 Bü 312, p. 19
7. ^ Jewish Press , November 16, 1923, p. 363
8. ^ Matriculation of the University of Zurich
9. ↑ d-nb.info  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.