Ismar Elbogen (September 1, 1874 – August 1, 1943) was a German rabbi, scholar and historian.

Biography

Yitzhak Moshe (Itamar) Elbogen was born in Posen. He was taught by his uncle, Jacob Levy, author of the "'", and then attended the gymnasium and the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau. He earned his doctorate from the Breslau University and was ordained as a rabbi in 1899.

Academic career

Elbogen served as a lecturer on Biblical exegesis and

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...

at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. In 1902 he became

privat-docent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

at the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums 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 ...

. He fled Nazi Germany in 1938, and taught at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College. He is the author of ''Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History''. Originally published in German in 1913, this book was updated in a number of subsequent Hebrew editions. The latest Hebrew edition was translated into English by Raymond P. Scheindlin, and published by the

Jewish Publication Society The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by Reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...

in 1993. This work covers the entire range of Jewish liturgical development, beginning with the early cornerstones of the siddur; through the evolution of the medieval piyyut tradition; to modern prayerbook reform in Germany and the United States. It is the most thorough academic study of the Jewish liturgy ever written.

Published works

* ''Der Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione und Seine Stellung Innerhalb der Philosophie

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

's'', Breslau, 1898 * ''In Commemorazione di S. D. Luzzatto'', Florence, 1901 * ''Die Neueste Construction der Jüdischen Geschichte'', Breslau, 1902 * ''Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland'', Berlin, Erich Lichtenstein Verlag, 1935 * ''A Century of Jewish Life'', Philadelphia, 1944

References

External links

Brief biography from the Gelman Library, George Washington University

Works by and about Ismar Elbogen in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica

Ismar Elbogen Collection
at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
''Jewish Encyclopedia'': "Elbogen, Ismar"
by Isidore Singer (1906). {{DEFAULTSORT:Elbogen, Ismar 1874 births 1943 deaths German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German rabbis Jewish historians People from Ostrzeszów County