The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Frankel, Zacharias

FRANKEL, Zacharias, a German rabbi and author, born in Prague, Oct. 18, 1801. He studied in Pesth, became rabbi at Leitmeritz in 1832, and chief rabbi for Dresden and Leipsic in 1836. He contributed greatly to improve the civil status of his co-religionists in Saxony, and indirectly in other parts of Germany. In 1854 he became director of the Jewish seminary at Breslau, which was opened in that year, and which has become through his influence a celebrated seat of Hebrew learning. His principal writings are: Die Eidesleistung der Juden (Dresden, 1840), which led to a liberal modification of the oath required from Jews in Saxon, Prussian, and other German courts of law; Hodegetica in Mischnam (Leipsic, 1859, with additions in 1865); Grundlinien des mosaisch-talmudisclien Eherechts (Breslau, 1859); Entwurf einer Geschichte der Literatur der nachtalmudischen Responsen (1865); and Einleitung in den Jerusalemischen Talmud (1870). He is also editor of the Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums, begun in 1851.