Frederick de Sola Mendes (July 8, 1850 in

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

– October 26, 1927 in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

) was a

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 ...

, author, and editor.

Family history and education

Frederick de Sola Mendes was born into an old Spanish & Portuguese rabbinic family. He was the son of Rabbi

Abraham Pereira Mendes Abraham Pereira Mendes (February 9, 1825 in Kingston, Jamaica – April 18, 1893 in New York City) was a Jamaican rabbi and educator. He served in Jamaica, England, and the USA. He was the first master of the Beth Limud School of Kingston, but ...

, grandson of Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, and great-grandson of Haham Raphael Meldola. He was also brother of Rabbi

Henry Pereira Mendes Henry Pereira Mendes (, 13 April 1852 – 21 October 1937), was an American rabbi who was born in Birmingham, England and died in New York City. He was also known as Haim Pereira Mendes. Family history and education Henry Pereira Mendes was born ...

. He was educated at Northwick College and at

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...

, London, and at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(B.A. 1869). Subsequently, he went to Breslau, Germany, where he entered the university and studied rabbinics at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (official name: ) was an institution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonah Fränckel, and opened in 1854. The seminary, at what is now an empty building plot (used as a ...

. Mendes received the degree of Ph.D. from

Jena University The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

in 1871.

Rabbinic career

Returning to England, he was licensed to preach as rabbi by Haham

Benjamin Artom Rabbi Benjamin Artom (1835–1879) was the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain. He was born in Asti, Piedmont, in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Biography He was the first person to hold the post of rabbi of Naples Naples ...

, in London, 1873; in the same year he was appointed preacher of the Great St. Helen's Synagogue of that city, but in December removed to New York, where he had accepted a call to the rabbinate of Shaaray Tefillah congregation (now the West End Synagogue); he entered upon his duties there January 1, 1874 as assistant minister to Rabbi Samuel M. Isaacs. In 1877, Dr. Mendes was elected rabbi of the congregation and continued in that position until 1920 when he retired as Rabbi Emeritus.

Writings

Dr. Mendes achieved a great reputation for scholarship and writing power. In conjunction with his brother

and others, he was one of the founders of the ''

American Hebrew ''The American Hebrew'' was a weekly Jewish magazine published in New York City. History It began publication on November 21, 1879, in New York City. It was founded by Frederick de Sola Mendes and its publisher was Philip Cowen. The weekly's pu ...

'' and was its editor during the first six years (1879-1885). In 1888, he took part in the Field-

Ingersoll Ingersoll may refer to: People *Ingersoll (surname) *Ingersoll Lockwood (1841–1918), American lawyer and writer Places Canada * Ingersoll, Ontario United States * Ingersoll, Oklahoma * Ingersoll, Wisconsin * Ingersoll Township, Michigan * ...

controversy, writing for the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

'' an article entitled "In Defense of Jehovah." In 1900, Mendes joined the staff of the ''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

'' as revising editor and chief of the translation bureau, which positions he resigned in September 1902. Associated with Dr.

Marcus Jastrow Marcus Jastrow (June 5, 1829 – October 13, 1903) was a German-born American Talmudic scholar, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic L ...

and Dr.

Kaufmann Kohler Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Kaufm ...

, he was one of the revisers of the

Jewish Publication Society of America Version The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) was the first Bible translation published by the Jewish Publication Society of America and the first translation of the Tanakh into English by a committee o ...

of the Bible. He also translated ''Jewish Family Papers: Letters of a Missionary'', by "Gustav Meinhardt" (Dr. William Herzberg). Of his publications the following may be mentioned: ''Child's First Bible''; ''Outlines of Bible History''; and ''Defense not Defiance''. He contributed also the article on the "Jews" to ''Johnson's Encyclopedia''. In 1903, he became for a time editor of ''The Menorah'', a monthly magazine.

References

External links

* http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10667-mendes * * https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/frederick-de-sola-mendes * https://www.nytimes.com/1920/11/10/archives/jewish-clergy-honor-dr-f-de-sola-mendes-tender-aged-rabbi-luncheon.html * https://www.jta.org/1927/10/28/archive/rabbi-frederic-de-sola-mendes-dies-at-age-of-74 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_de_Sola_Mendes.jpg * https://www.sandpcentral.org/clergy {{DEFAULTSORT:Sola Mendes, Frederick de 1850 births 1927 deaths Spanish and Portuguese Jews British Orthodox rabbis American Orthodox rabbis People educated at University College School Alumni of the University of London Jamaican emigrants to the United States 19th-century American rabbis American people of Portuguese descent Jamaican people of Portuguese descent