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Poetry, hyms, and prayers in honor of Sir Moses.
R. Joseph Kohn-Zedek (1827–1903), Hebrew poet, writer, and publicist. Kohen-Zedek, who was born in Lvov, studied rabbinics with Solomon Kluger in Brody and S. J. Nathanson in Lvov. He first engaged - unsuccessfully - in business and then turned to literature and journalism. He published a number of collections of his patriotic poetry in honor of the Austro-Hungarian emperor - from whom he received a gold medal for art and science in 1851 - and an anthology of contemporary poetry dedicated to Moses Montefiore, Neveh Kehillah (1864). Kohen-Zedek edited a number of more or less short-lived Hebrew periodicals: Meged Yerahim (4 issues, 1855–59), Ozar Hokhmah (3 issues, 1859–65), Ha-Yehudi ha-Nizhi (4 issues, 1866), and Or Torah (4 issues, 1874). His weekly Ha-Mevasser, which included a literary supplement, Ha-Nesher, was the first Hebrew paper in Galicia (1861–66); some of the best Hebrew writers and scholars contributed to it. He himself wrote in a lively and original melizah style. Following a dispute with one of his associates which led to a denunciation, Kohen-Zedek had to leave Austria in 1868. He went first to Frankfort on the Main, and in 1875 to London, where he served as preacher to immigrant congregations. In London he wrote a number of mainly homiletic works, including Elef Alfin, a thousand-word eulogy on Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler, each word beginning with alef. Of some scholarly importance are his Sefat Emet (1879), a polemic against Michael Rodkinson; Divrei ha-Yamim le-Malkhei Zarefat (1859), an edition of Joseph ha-Kohen's chronicle with Kohen-Zedek's introduction; and Even Bohan (1865), an annotated edition of Kalonymus b. Kalonymus' satirical work. His Biographical Sketches of Eminent Jewish Families (1897) is in English. Kohen-Zedek maintained a lively correspondence with the leading rabbis and scholars of his time. He has been called "the last publicist of the Galician Haskalah."
Sir Moses is best described by Dr. Loewe in the final paragraph of the Sir and Lady's diaries. He sums up the importance and achievments of this historical Jewish couple's efforts for their brethen over the span of the 19th century: "The impartial reader of these Memoirs, in closing the book, and recalling to his mind the varied scenes portraying the life and work of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, and the moral to be derived therefrom, will acknowledge that the practice of justice, truth, and virtue towards his fellow-beings, and staunch loyalty to the Sovereign, will ensure an ample reward. At the same time, he cannot fail to contemplate with intense admiration the life's work of the hero of a hundred years, who fought so sturdily in youth the battle of life, and who afterwards devoted himself with such unwearying ardour to the task of combating hatred, persecution, and fanaticism, of severing the bonds of physical and moral slavery, and of aiding in the establishment of religious toleration all over the world. His unparalleled devotion to the sacred cause of humanity in general, and the unclouded halo of a spotless integrity which encircles his name, will ever afford a splendid example for emulation no less than the dauntless courage with which he set to work for the rescue of the suffering and the oppressed, whilst the bright guiding stars which lighted all his actions were the fear of G-d on high and deeds of charity and loving kindness on earth."
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