Joseph Jonas Fränckel (1773 in Breslau – January 27, 1846 in Breslau) was a German Jewish businessman,

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

and philanthropist. He is best known for having willed the funds for the establishment of the " Jewish Theological Seminary Fraenkel'sche Stiftung" of Breslau, the first modern rabbinical seminary in Central Europe, and the model for similar colleges set up in Europe and the United States.

Biography

Frankel was the son of Joel Wolf, and the grandson of

David Fränkel David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, the author of '' Korban 'Edah.'' Owing to his great commercial ability he rose from extreme poverty to affluence, and became one of the leading bankers of Breslau. As an acknowledgment of the services rendered by him in the development of commerce and industry in Germany, the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

government awarded him the title of ''Kommerzienrath''. Notwithstanding his numerous occupations, Fränkel was an indefatigable communal worker. He was the director of many charitable institutions, to the support of which he contributed liberally; he erected at his own expense a hospital, to which were annexed an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

, a ''

bet ha-midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth kne ...

,'' and a synagogue. Being childless, he bequeathed part of his fortune to a family foundation, which provided dowries for portionless girls of the Fränkel family; but the greater part of his wealth he left to charitable institutions, especially to the erection of a Jewish

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

which bears his name. This seminary, the "Jewish Theological Seminary Fraenkel'sche Stiftung" of Breslau was inaugurated at Breslau in 1854 and became the greatest Jewish institution of its kind; in it most of the leading Jewish scholars of the second half of the nineteenth century were educated.

References

* ''Der Orient,'' 1846, Nos. 4, 9; * Fuenn, ''Keneset Yisrael.''

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Isaac Broydé Isaac David Broydé (23 February 1867, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire – 15 April 1922, New York City) was an Orientalist and librarian. Life He was born in Porozowo, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus ...

18th-century births 1846 deaths German bankers 18th-century German Jews Businesspeople from Wrocław People from the Province of Silesia {{Germany-business-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References