R. Nehemiah Anton Nobel (1871–1922) was a German Orthodox rabbi and religious leader. Born in Nagymed (Hungary), he was the son of R. Joseph Nobel (1840–1917), author of a number of exegetical and homiletical works. After being brought up in Halberstadt, where his father was Klausrabbinner, Nehemiah Nobel studied at the Berlin Rabbiner-Seminar. He served in the rabbinate of Cologne from 1896 to 1899, and then for several months in Koenigsberg. From there he went to the University of Marburg to study under Hermann Cohen, who had a great influence upon him. Nobel's activity in the Zionist Movement began in Cologne. He was on close terms with Theodor Herzl and David Wolffsohn and was one of the original founders of the Zionist Federation in Germany. He also took part in the founding convention of the Mizrachi movement in Pressburg (1904). Nobel's Zionist activity, motivated by his conviction that religion and nationhood are organically connected in Judaism, stood out in contrast to the united anti-Zionist front of Orthodox and liberal rabbis in Germany at the time. From 1901 he served in the rabbinate of Leipzig, from 1906 in Hamburg, and finally, from 1910, in Frankfort. There he prompted closer contacts with Judaism and Zionism in circles that had been drifting away from Judaism. His sermons and preachings, in which he was extraordinarily impressive, tackled topical problems. He influenced such Jewish thinkers as Ernst Simon, Oscar Wolfsberg (Y. Aviad), F. Rosenzweig, and M. Buber. The last two helped to publish the jubilee book for his 50th birthday (1921). In 1919 he was elected chairman of the Union of German Rabbis and was head of the Akademie fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums. He died a short time after having been appointed professor of religion and ethics at the University of Frankfort. A number of his sermons as well as scholarly and halakhic articles, which first appeared in Festschriften, have been published.

Oscar Wolfsberg was an author and leader of religious Zionism who later changed his name to Yeshayahu Aviad. Born in Hamburg, he studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Wuerzburg, and Berlin. After serving as medical officer during World War I, he settled in Berlin where he practiced as a pediatrician. He became a member of the central committee of the Mizrachi movement in Germany, edited its organ Juedische Presse, and was a delegate to many Zionist Congresses. Settling in Palestine in 1933, Aviad continued in medical practice there. He became a leading member of Ha-Po'el ha-Mizrachi, as well as a member of the executive of Mosad ha-Rav Kook, of Brit Ivrit Olamit , and of the Court of Honor of the World Zionist Organization. He served as Israel envoy in Scandinavia in 1948– 49, and in 1956 was Israel minister in Switzerland, where he died. His principal works are: Theory of Evolution and the Faith of the Jews (1927); Zur Zeit-und Geistesgeschichte des Judentums (1938); Yahadut ve-Hoveh ("Judaism and the Present," 1962); a collection of essays, Ba-Perozedor ("In the Corridor," 1943); She'arim ("Gateways," 1948); and Iyyunim be-Yahadut ("Studies in Judaism," 1955). He also wrote books on the philosophy of history, and profiles of prominent Jewish personalities.