Samuel Mendelsohn (1850–1922) was a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...

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 ...

and scholar born near Kaunas, Lithuania.

Biography

He was educated at the rabbinical college in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, at the rabbinic school in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, and at Maimonides College,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. In 1883 he received the honorary degree of doctor of law from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. Mendelsohn served as

of the Congregation Beth-El, Norfolk, Virginia from 1873 to 1876; he then served as rabbi of the Congregation Temple of Israel, in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

, until 1922. Mendelsohn published ''The Criminal Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews'' (Baltimore, 1891), in addition to several pamphlets and a large number of articles on subjects of general Jewish interest and

Talmudical The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

research, in ''Ha-Ẓofeh,'' the ''Jewish Messenger,'' ''Jewish Record,'' ''South Atlantic Magazine,'' ''American Israelite,'' and ''Revue des Etudes Juives.'' Dr. Mendelsohn was also a collaborator in the completion of the Jewish Encyclopedia. In 1879, he married Esther Jastrow, niece of the Rev. 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 ...

. He had one son, Charles Jastrow Mendelsohn; the latter was fellow in classics in the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1901–1903), where he also received the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1904. Rabbi Mendelsohn was active in a number of fraternal and charitable organizations, including the Cornelius Harnett Council, Royal Acanum, Odd Fellows,

B’nai B’rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

and the Fraternal Mystic Circle. He also served as supreme president of the U.S. Benevolent Franternity.

References

Biography at University of North Carolina Wilmington
*

External links

*
Jewish Encyclopedia article for Samuel Mendelsohn
by

Cyrus Adler Cyrus Adler (September 13, 1863 – April 7, 1940) was an American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar. Early years Adler was born to merchant and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger in Van Buren, Arkansas on September 13, 186 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelsohn 1850 births 1922 deaths American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American Reform rabbis Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Lithuanian Jews Jewish American writers Writers from Kaunas Writers from Wilmington, North Carolina 20th-century American rabbis 19th-century American rabbis