Asriel Günzig (also known as Azriel Günzig, Ezriel Günzig, Israel Günzig, Izrael Günzig, or J. Günzig; 10 April 1868,

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

– 1931,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

) () was a rabbi, scholar, bookseller, editor and writer. He served as the rabbi of

Loštice Loštice (; ) is a town in Šumperk District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,100 inhabitants. The town is known for the production of aromatic cheese called ''Olomoucké tvarůžky''. Administrative division Loštice co ...

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, from 1899 until 1920.

Life

Günzig was born on 10 April 1868 in

, where he received traditional

Talmudic The Talmud (; ) 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 centerpiece of Jewi ...

education, and he finished his studies in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

, where he earned his doctorate. In 1899, he became the rabbi of the Jewish Congregation in Loštice, a position he held until the spring of 1920, when he moved with his family to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. In Antwerp, he became the head of the Hebrew Tachkemoni School and held this position for ten years. He died in Antwerp in 1931 at the age of 63.

Family

Günzig and his wife Amalia (nee Schreiber) had four children: Regina (born 1898 in Kraków, died 1992), Sabine (born 1901 in Loštice; murdered at

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

), Jacques (born 1904 in Loštice; murdered 28 July 1942 at the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

) and Hilda (born 1910 in Loštice; died 1995).

Works

His scholarly work was mainly focused on the history of

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...

(Jewish

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

) in Galicia, but he dealt with other subjects as well. In 1898, Günzig published Japheth ha-Levi's commentary on

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

1–3. His own published works include: ''Der Pessimismus im Judenthume'' (Kraków, 1899), ''Rabbi Israel Baal-Schem'' (

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

, 1908); ''Die "Wundermänner" im jüdischen Volke'' (Antwerp, 1921); and ''Das jüdische Schrifttum über den Wert des Lebens'' (

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, 1924). In 1898–1913 he edited the literary magazine ''Ha-Eshkol'' (). He also contributed to the Hebrew encyclopedia '.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Günzig, Asriel 1868 births 1931 deaths Belgian magazine editors Belgian male writers 19th-century Belgian rabbis Booksellers (people) German-language writers Hebrew-language writers Jewish encyclopedists Jewish historians Moravian writers Clergy from Antwerp 19th-century Czech rabbis University of Bern alumni Writers from Kraków 20th-century Belgian rabbis 20th-century Czech rabbis