Physical Description

Only edition. [5], 60; 31 pp., 230:150 mm., wide margins, usual age staining, stamps, plates. A very good copy bound in the original title wrappers.

Detail Description

Annual report of the Landes-Rabbinerschule in Budapest for the schoolyear 1896-97.

Landes-Rabbinerschule, Hungarian rabbinical seminary in Budapest. A Hungarian law of 1837 required rabbis to have a secondary education and to register births, marriages, and deaths in Hungarian, and in 1844 parliamentary approval was given to the idea of a rabbinical seminary. In 1850 an indemnity of 2 1/3 million florins was imposed on Hungarian Jewry for its participation in the 1848–49 Revolution. By 1856 one million florins had been paid, and the emperor set this aside for Jewish education and, in particular, a rabbinical seminary. It took twenty years of infighting between the Orthodox, who strenuously opposed the seminary idea, and those who inclined toward Reform before the income from this fund could be used for its declared purpose. The matter was finally decided at a conference of Hungarian Jewry (December 1868–February 1869), at which the majority decided on a middle-of-the-road college on the Breslau model.

The Landesrabbinerschule was opened in 1877. It has remained a state institution, administration and staff being appointed by the government, which approved the syllabus and also administered the fund. The course of study was ten years; five years of high school and five years at the seminary proper. During the latter period students were required to enroll at the university and obtain a degree. The following were directors of the seminary: M. Bloch (1877–1907), W. Bacher (1907–13), L. Blau (1914–32), M. Guttmann (1933–42), D. S. Loewinger (1943–50), A. Scheiber (1950–: between 1952 and 1956 with E. Roth). Other well-known scholars who taught in the seminary were D. Kaufmann, I. Goldziher, S. Kohn, L. Venetianer, B. Heller, M. Weisz, D. Friedmann, S. Hevesi, and H. J. Fisher.

The seminary's annual reports (1878–1917 in German, since 1921, Hungarian) generally contain scholarly essays by the teaching staff. A jubilee volume (ed. by L. Blau) was published in 1927. The learned periodical Magyar Zsid\ Szemle ("Hungarian Jewish Review," 1–65, 1884–1948) was initiated by seminary circles, as were Ha-Zofeh me-Erez Hagar (later Ha-Zofeh le-Hokhmat Yisrael, 1–15, 1911–31) and Ha-Soker (1–6, 1932–39). The Jewish Literary Society also owed its inspiration to the seminary. Its library, which began with Lelio della Torre's collection and grew to over 40,000 volumes, includes many manuscripts and incunabula. When the Nazis occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944, the seminary building was sacked. By admitting all applicants - there were 174 students registered in 1944 - it saved some young men from deportation. Ninety graduates and over 60 students died in the Holocaust. With the liberation of Hungary by the Russians in 1945, the seminary gradually rebuilt its life under the present government, though on a limited scale. It trains Hebrew teachers and has expanded the Tarbut high school with special emphasis on modern Hebrew. It maintains contact with Jewish scholars the world over. In 1970 the seminary had about 10 students.

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