Abraham Kohn (June 13, 1806 in Zalužany,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

– September 7, 1848 at

Lemberg, Galicia Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

) was the liberal Chief

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

of Lemberg, and was poisoned to death. In 1828, he entered the University of Prague, where he applied himself to philosophy, while devoting his spare time to rabbinical studies. In July, 1833, he was appointed rabbi of Hohenems, Vorarlberg, where he remained for eleven years. Besides organizing various charitable societies, he greatly improved the educational facilities for the young, and introduced many reforms into the public service. In May, 1844, he accepted the rabbinate of Lemberg. Here in a comparatively short time he opened a well-equipped "Normalschule" of which he was the superintendent, dedicated a new reform temple, abolished many old abuses, and did not rest until the degrading tax on

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meat and

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, imposed upon the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community by the government, was removed. In 1902 the Lviv/Lemberg Jewish community commissioned a portrait of Abraham Kohn. The posthumous portrait was painted by a Lviv-based Jewish painter Wilhelm Wachtel (1875-1952). Presently this portrait is in the collection of the Voznytsky Lviv National Gallery in Lviv, Ukraine.

Death

While the less traditional element rallied about him, the traditionalists of the community bitterly protested changes to their religion. On September 6, 1848, Abraham Ber Pilpel, said to be hired by a fanatical clique, entered Kohn's kitchen and poisoned the family's dinner with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

. While the other members of his family recovered, Kohn and his youngest daughter (cf. "Reformed Judaism and its Pioneers" by E. Schreiber, where he writes that the only victim of the murder was Rabbi Kohn himself and the rest of the family recovered), died the following day. After Kohn died Pilpel stood trial for his murder and was convicted. However, on appeal this was overturned. After the verdict was overturned, it was again reviewed by the highest court and the appellate court's judgment was upheld.

Sources and references

* * Michael Stanislawski
A Murder in Lemberg: Politics, Religion, and Violence in Modern Jewish History
(Princeton University Press, 2007)

*

Jonatan Meir Jonatan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Jonatan (footballer) (born 1992), Brazilian football midfielder, full name Jonatan da Silva Lima *Jonatan Berg (born 1985), Swedish football midfielder * Jonatan Briel (1942–1988), ...

'Review of Michael Stanislawski, A Murder in Lemberg: Politics, Religion, and Violence in Modern Jewish History, Jerusalem 2010
, GAL-ED 24 (2015), pp. 173–176

External links

''Nachgelassene Schriften Abraham Kohn's, mit einer Biographie desselben''
at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohn, Abraham 1807 births 1848 deaths Charles University alumni Czech rabbis Deaths by poisoning