Immanuel Löw (January 20, 1854 in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

– July 19, 1944 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) was a Hungarian rabbi and scholar, botanist and politician.

Life

Löw was the son of Leopold Löw whom he succeeded in 1878 as rabbi of

, Hungary, and whose collected works he published (5 vols., 1889–1900). He was educated in his native town and in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where he studied at the

Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, or Higher Institute for Jewish Studies, was a rabbinical seminary established in Berlin in 1872 and closed down by the Nazi government of Germany in 1942. Upon the order of the government, the nam ...

, graduating as rabbi and receiving his Ph.D. from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1878. The Szeged Synagogue built in 1903 was designed according to Löw's plans. In the ' White Terror' of 1920–21 he was imprisoned for 13 months for alleged statements against Admiral

Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...

. While in prison, he worked on his four volume work ''Die Flora der Juden'' (“The Flora of the Jews”), on terminology of plants in Jewish sources. Like his father, Löw was a great preacher in the Hungarian language, and several hundred of his sermons were published in four volumes between 1900 and 1939. On the occasion of his congregation's centenary he published (with Z. Kulinyi) the congregation's history (1885) and that of its ''ḥevra kaddisha'' (with S. Klein, 1887). In 1883 he published a prayer book (in Hungarian) for women, and rendered the ''

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

'' and some psalms into the same language. From 1927 he represented the Neolog (non-Orthodox) communities in the upper chamber of the Hungarian parliament and also was a member of the

Jewish Agency for Palestine The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jews, Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). ...

. Soon after his 90th birthday, the Germans occupied Hungary and Löw was first sent to a brick factory in the local ghetto and then put on a deportation train. In Budapest, however, he was freed by Zionist workers. He died that year in Budapest.

Scholarly work

Löw’s fame as a scholar is based primarily on his pioneering work in the field of

Talmud 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 Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

and rabbinic

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretical le ...

and in the study of plant names. This special interest is apparent in his doctoral thesis "Aramäische Pflanzennamen" ("Aramaic Plant Names") (1879) as well as in " Meleagros aus Gadara und die Flora Aramaea" (1883). Löw systematically explored the basics of plant terminology in different periods of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

languages, dominated the latest scientific methods in this field, made himself familiar with literary sources of plant names, and made careful use of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

material. With the help of

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 ...

, especially Syriac, he clarified many

etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

. He had great influence on future scholars, particularly

Yehuda Feliks Judah or Yehuda is the name of a biblical patriarch, Judah (son of Jacob). It may also refer to: Historical ethnic, political and geographic terms * Tribe of Judah, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel; their allotment corresponds to Judah or Jud ...

, who considered him one of the greatest scholars of Jewish botany. Löw contributed to

Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist, lexicographer, Christian Hebraist, Lutheran theologian, Biblical scholar and critic. Biography Gesenius was born at Nordhausen. In 1803 he bec ...

' famous Bible dictionary (10th ed., 1886; 11th ed., 1890), and to

Carl Brockelmann Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semitic studies, Semiticist, was the foremost Orientalism, orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in University of Wrocław, Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, ...

's "Lexicon syriacum" (1895). Löw made critical annotations to

Samuel Krauss Samuel Krauss ( Ukk, 18 February 1866 - Cambridge, 4 June 1948) was professor at the Jewish Teachers' Seminary, Budapest, 1894–1906, and at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Vienna, 1906–1938. He moved to England as a refugee and spent his last ...

' "Griechische und lateinische Lehnwörter im Talmud, Midrash und Targum" (1899), and to the same author's supplement volume to

Alexander Kohut Alexander (Chanoch Yehuda) Kohut (; April 22, 1842 – May 25, 1894) was a rabbi and orientalist. He belonged to a family of rabbis, the most noted among them being Rabbi Israel Palota, his great-grandfather, Rabbi Amram (called "The Gaon," who ...

's "Arukh ha-Shalem" (1937) and to his "Talmudische Archäologie" (1910–1912) which was dedicated to Löw and thus saved the author many etymological errors. There are also notes of his in

Julius Theodor Julius may refer to: People * Julius (name), a masculine given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) * Julius (nomen), the name of a Roman family (includes a list of Ancient Romans with the name) ** Julius Caesar (100– ...

–

Hanoch Albeck Hanoch Albeck (; August 7, 1890 - January 9, 1972) was a professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a foremost scholar of the Mishna and one of the pioneers of the scientific approach to Mishna study. Education Hanoch's fa ...

's edition of "Genesis Rabbah", 3 pt. 2 (1965), 127-48ff. Both in the field of wildlife as well as minerals, he published more articles in scholarly publications. He wrote ''Mineralien der Juden'' (“Minerals of the Jews”), but his manuscript was lost during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

in 1944. A part of his literary legacy went on to the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

in Jerusalem, and another part to the rabbinical seminary of

. His essays on fauna and minerals were reissued in 1969 ("Fauna und Mineralien der Juden") together with an introduction by Alexander Scheiber.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Immanuel 1854 births 1944 deaths 19th-century Hungarian rabbis 20th-century Hungarian botanists Jewish biologists Neolog rabbis Hungarian Jews who died in the Holocaust Hungarian civilians killed in World War II 19th-century Hungarian botanists Natural history of Palestine (region)