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A further work on the influence of Palestinian exegesis on Alexandrian hermeneutics. Several of Frankel's works deal with the history of the oral tradition: in his first studies on the Septuagint, Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta (1841), he tried to show that traces of the Palestinian halakhah could be found in the Greek translation of the Bible.
Dr. Zacharias Frankel (1801–1875), was born in Prague. After receiving a talmudic education under Bezalel Ronsburg, he studied philosophy, natural sciences, and philology in Budapest (1825–30). In 1831 the Austrian government appointed him district rabbi (Kreisrabbiner) of Leitmeritz (Litomerice), and he settled in Teplitz (Teplice) where he was elected local rabbi. He was the first Bohemian rabbi with a secular academic education and one of the first to preach in German. In 1836 he was called by the Saxon government to Dresden to act as chief rabbi. The publication of his study on the Jewish oath (see below) led to its abolition in several German states. He declined a call to Berlin in 1843, mainly because the Prussian government would not meet his stipulations (complete legal recognition of the Jewish faith - until then merely "tolerated"; denial of support to missionary activities among the Jews, etc.). In 1854, after having actively advocated its establishment, Frankel became director of the newly founded Juedisch-Theologisches Seminar at Breslau, where he remained until his death. |
