Isaac Rülf
Encyclopedia
Rabbi
Dr. Isaac (Yitzhak) Rülf (February 10, 1831 - September 18, 1902) was a Jewish teacher, journalist and philosopher. He became widely known for his aid work
and as a prominent early Zionist
.
Rülf was born in Rauischholzhausen
, Hesse
, Germany
. He received a teaching certificate in 1849, became an assistant to the county rabbi and then taught in other small communities. He received his rabbinical certificate in 1854 from the University of Marburg and his Ph.D
in 1865 at the University of Rostock
. That year he became the rabbi of Memel
, East Prussia
.
Rülf first found fame for his part in the 'Jankel Widutzky case' in which an English
minister attempted to convert
Widutzky, a Jewish youth, in Memel. Rülf attacked the missionary
in the article Jankel Widutzky, der den Händen der Judenbekehrungs Mission entzogene Knabe (1867), sparking indignation in Germany. Widutzky was thus not converted and entered Rabbinical college.
, was a frontier town and a crossroads between East and West – it lay at the tip of East Prussia, on the border of Russia
's Lithuania
n province (the Kovner Gubernie
).
The Jewish community in Memel was divided between Western Jews (Prussian/German) and the Eastern Jews (Polish
/Russian/Lithuanian), with the different groups having their own institutions and leaders. This mirrored a continent-wide division based largely on the Easterners' fixation on traditional religious education and their perceived ignorance of worldly affairs. Rülf arrived as rabbi of the German Jews but tried to unite the communities. For instance, in 1875 Rülf collected funds among the German Jews to assist the Lithuanian and Russian Jews in building their Beth Midrash
. In this way he won over the Eastern Jews who had first dismissed this “Doktor-Rabbiner” of the wealthier German minority.
To supplement his small pay as rabbi, Rülf became an editor
of the Memeler Dampfboot, the city's largest liberal newspaper. From 1872 until he left the city, he was editor-in-chief
. In 1862 Rülf and Rabbi Yisrael Salanter founded a chevra kadisha
together in Memel. In 1879 Rülf created an Armenschule, or school for poor children and in 1886 Rülf directed the funding and building of a synagogue
for the German Jews. In 1871 he and two collaborators caused a Jewish hospital to be built in Memel. It drew so many patients to the city that in 1896 a new, larger building was put up. It has been restored and still stands today, in use as a hospital, at its scenic hilltop site.
The early 1880s saw a series of efforts to force Jews out of Memel in increasing numbers. Rülf raised a great deal of money for the exiles' travel and living expenses. Many of these people were given enough to reach the United States. In 1885, Rülf used his political contacts in Germany to prevent a final mass expulsion of Jews from Memel.
In 1898, Rülf retired from his position and moved with his family to Bonn
, Germany.
(1869) and Three Days in Jewish Russia (1882). During this time he received reports, smuggled over the Lithuanian border, on the Russian pogroms
. In Memel these were translated into German
and sent to England, where they later appeared in two long articles in the London Times
on January 11 and 13, 1882. Russian Jews were even able to escape to Germany through an underground directed by Rülf.
Rülf established and headed the “Permanent Committee for Helping Russian Jews” in the 1880s. He organized a massive relief campaign in Germany for Russian Jews, and tens of thousands came to know him as 'Rabbi Hülf' or 'Dr. Hülf', meaning 'Help'. Rülf saved around 30,000 Jews from starvation during Lithuania's 1867-1868 famine. To this end, he collected an amazing 630,000 Mark in Germany, transferring it to 230 Lithuanian settlements over a year and a half.
, calling for a Jewish state in response to anti-Semitism. Rülf agreed with the basic idea but little else, compelling him to write Aruchas Bas-Ammi (1883). There he went further than Pinsker, specifying that the Jewish homeland must be in Palestine
and its language must be Hebrew
, and calling for immediate purchase of land and immigration to Palestine.
Three years later, Rülf's was one of the first portraits to appear in Kneset Israel, a great distinction. Correspondents over these years included Pinsker and Nathan Birnbaum
, coiner of the term Zionism. Rülf's letters and other writings are preserved in the Rülf Collection at the Central Zionist Archives
in Jerusalem, Israel
.
Rülf was hurt when, in 1896, the young Theodor Herzl
was embraced as Zionism's international leader. That was the year in which Herzl published his landmark Der Judenstaat
. However, Rülf came to Herzl's defense against the anti-Zionist
“Protest Rabbis” who impeded the First Zionist Congress
, leveraging his considerable reputation and writing Declaration versus Declaration in the June 25, 1897 Die Welt. In 1898, Rülf introduced Herzl at the Second Zionist Congress at Basle
, Switzerland
.
In Memel, Rülf had been the mentor of David Wolffsohn
, who went on to succeed Herzl as the second President of the World Zionist Organization
. Wolffsohn came to Memel at age 17 from his Lithuanian hometown, and Rülf taught and greatly influenced him.
Late in life, Rülf attempted to warn European Jews of the dangers they faced from German anti-Semitism. In Topical Study, in the May 18, 1900 Die Welt, he wrote that the end of the century would not mean the end of the murder of millions of Jews. Less than fifty years later, his own children were unable to escape the Holocaust
.
, future first Chancellor of West Germany
. The danger to Jews from Nazi power increased while Adenauer was mayor of Cologne
, and Adenauer offered refuge to Rülf's son Benno at his family home in Rhöndorf
. However, Adenauer was himself forced to flee and take refuge at a monastery. Benno and his wife traveled to the Netherlands
but, according to a statement of his daughter Elizabeth, he was deported and died in Auschwitz. Isaac's son Jacob committed suicide in Bonn before being deported.
A street in Tel Aviv
, Israel is named for Isaac Rülf.
, in which he described his theories of theistic monism.
My Journey to Kovno
Three Days in Jewish Russia
(the first volumes of System of a New Metaphysics)
Legacy Law
as a Basic Evil
(final volume of philosophy, published posthumously)
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Dr. Isaac (Yitzhak) Rülf (February 10, 1831 - September 18, 1902) was a Jewish teacher, journalist and philosopher. He became widely known for his aid work
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
and as a prominent early Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
.
Rülf was born in Rauischholzhausen
Ebsdorfergrund
Ebsdorfergrund is a community consisting of 11 villages in the southeast of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany.The community's municipal area extends over the Ebsdorfer Grund in the valley of the Zwester Ohm and the areas around its edges, connecting the Amöneburg Basin with the middle...
, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He received a teaching certificate in 1849, became an assistant to the county rabbi and then taught in other small communities. He received his rabbinical certificate in 1854 from the University of Marburg and his Ph.D
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in 1865 at the University of Rostock
University of Rostock
The University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area...
. That year he became the rabbi of Memel
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
, East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
.
Rülf first found fame for his part in the 'Jankel Widutzky case' in which an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
minister attempted to convert
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
Widutzky, a Jewish youth, in Memel. Rülf attacked the missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in the article Jankel Widutzky, der den Händen der Judenbekehrungs Mission entzogene Knabe (1867), sparking indignation in Germany. Widutzky was thus not converted and entered Rabbinical college.
City of Memel
Memel, in addition to being an important port on the BalticBaltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, was a frontier town and a crossroads between East and West – it lay at the tip of East Prussia, on the border of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
's Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n province (the Kovner Gubernie
Kovno Governorate
The Kovno Governorate or Government of Kovno was a governorate of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kovno . It was formed on 18 December 1842 by tsar Nicholas I from the western part of the Vilna Governorate, and the order was carried out on 1 July 1843. It used to be a part of Northwestern Krai...
).
The Jewish community in Memel was divided between Western Jews (Prussian/German) and the Eastern Jews (Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
/Russian/Lithuanian), with the different groups having their own institutions and leaders. This mirrored a continent-wide division based largely on the Easterners' fixation on traditional religious education and their perceived ignorance of worldly affairs. Rülf arrived as rabbi of the German Jews but tried to unite the communities. For instance, in 1875 Rülf collected funds among the German Jews to assist the Lithuanian and Russian Jews in building their Beth Midrash
Beth midrash
Beth Midrash refers to a study hall, whether in a synagogue, yeshiva, kollel, or other building. It is distinct from a synagogue, although many synagogues are also used as batei midrash and vice versa....
. In this way he won over the Eastern Jews who had first dismissed this “Doktor-Rabbiner” of the wealthier German minority.
To supplement his small pay as rabbi, Rülf became an editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of the Memeler Dampfboot, the city's largest liberal newspaper. From 1872 until he left the city, he was editor-in-chief
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
. In 1862 Rülf and Rabbi Yisrael Salanter founded a chevra kadisha
Chevra Kadisha
A chevra kadisha is a loosely structured but generally closed organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial...
together in Memel. In 1879 Rülf created an Armenschule, or school for poor children and in 1886 Rülf directed the funding and building of a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
for the German Jews. In 1871 he and two collaborators caused a Jewish hospital to be built in Memel. It drew so many patients to the city that in 1896 a new, larger building was put up. It has been restored and still stands today, in use as a hospital, at its scenic hilltop site.
The early 1880s saw a series of efforts to force Jews out of Memel in increasing numbers. Rülf raised a great deal of money for the exiles' travel and living expenses. Many of these people were given enough to reach the United States. In 1885, Rülf used his political contacts in Germany to prevent a final mass expulsion of Jews from Memel.
In 1898, Rülf retired from his position and moved with his family to Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany.
International aid work
Rülf travelled east to study the cruel conditions of Jewish life in Russia and Lithuania. In response he wrote My Journey to KovnoKaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
(1869) and Three Days in Jewish Russia (1882). During this time he received reports, smuggled over the Lithuanian border, on the Russian pogroms
Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire
The term pogrom as a reference to large-scale, targeted, and repeated antisemitic rioting saw its first use in the 19th century.The first pogrom is often considered to be the 1821 Odessa pogroms after the death of the Greek Orthodox patriarch Gregory V in Constantinople, in which 14 Jews were killed...
. In Memel these were translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and sent to England, where they later appeared in two long articles in the London Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
on January 11 and 13, 1882. Russian Jews were even able to escape to Germany through an underground directed by Rülf.
Rülf established and headed the “Permanent Committee for Helping Russian Jews” in the 1880s. He organized a massive relief campaign in Germany for Russian Jews, and tens of thousands came to know him as 'Rabbi Hülf' or 'Dr. Hülf', meaning 'Help'. Rülf saved around 30,000 Jews from starvation during Lithuania's 1867-1868 famine. To this end, he collected an amazing 630,000 Mark in Germany, transferring it to 230 Lithuanian settlements over a year and a half.
Zionism
Rülf was struck by the fact that Russian Jews saw themselves simply as Jews, in contrast with 'Western' Jews who identified with their nation of residence. In 1881 he had a conversion to this view of Jewish identity. Within months, Russian Jew Leon Pinsker published Auto-EmancipationAuto-Emancipation
right|thumb|upright|The book "Auto-Emancipation" by Pinsker, 1882Auto-Emancipation is an early Zionist pamphlet written in German by Russian-Polish Jewish doctor and activist Leo Pinsker in 1882....
, calling for a Jewish state in response to anti-Semitism. Rülf agreed with the basic idea but little else, compelling him to write Aruchas Bas-Ammi (1883). There he went further than Pinsker, specifying that the Jewish homeland must be in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and its language must be Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, and calling for immediate purchase of land and immigration to Palestine.
Three years later, Rülf's was one of the first portraits to appear in Kneset Israel, a great distinction. Correspondents over these years included Pinsker and Nathan Birnbaum
Nathan Birnbaum
----Nathan Birnbaum was an Austrian writer and journalist, Jewish thinker and nationalist. His life had three main phases, representing a progression in his thinking: Zionist phase ; Jewish cultural autonomy phase which included the promotion of the Yiddish language; and religious phase...
, coiner of the term Zionism. Rülf's letters and other writings are preserved in the Rülf Collection at the Central Zionist Archives
Central Zionist Archives
The Central Zionist Archives The Central Zionist Archives The Central Zionist Archives (CZA; Hebrew: (הארכיון הציוני המרכזי (אצ"מ) is an archive in Jerusalem, Israel, housing the historical archives of the Zionist movement from 1880-1970 and documenting the growth of the Zionist movement throughout...
in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Rülf was hurt when, in 1896, the young Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl , born Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl was an Ashkenazi Jew Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.-Early life:...
was embraced as Zionism's international leader. That was the year in which Herzl published his landmark Der Judenstaat
Der Judenstaat
Der Judenstaat is a book written by Theodor Herzl and published in 1896 in Leipzig and Vienna by M. Breitenstein's Verlags-Buchhandlung...
. However, Rülf came to Herzl's defense against the anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
“Protest Rabbis” who impeded the First Zionist Congress
First Zionist Congress
The First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization held in Basel , Switzerland, from August 29 to August 31, 1897. It was convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement...
, leveraging his considerable reputation and writing Declaration versus Declaration in the June 25, 1897 Die Welt. In 1898, Rülf introduced Herzl at the Second Zionist Congress at Basle
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
In Memel, Rülf had been the mentor of David Wolffsohn
David Wolffsohn
David Wolffsohn was a Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist and second president of the Zionist Organization .Wolffsohn was born in Darbėnai, Lithuania, to religious parents, Isaac and Feiga. He received an observant religious education from his parents and in 1872 was sent to Germany to...
, who went on to succeed Herzl as the second President of the World Zionist Organization
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization , or WZO, was founded as the Zionist Organization , or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland...
. Wolffsohn came to Memel at age 17 from his Lithuanian hometown, and Rülf taught and greatly influenced him.
Late in life, Rülf attempted to warn European Jews of the dangers they faced from German anti-Semitism. In Topical Study, in the May 18, 1900 Die Welt, he wrote that the end of the century would not mean the end of the murder of millions of Jews. Less than fifty years later, his own children were unable to escape the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Family and legacy
Isaac Rülf died in Bonn, four years after relocating there to continue his work in philosophy. His sons became personal friends of Konrad AdenauerKonrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
, future first Chancellor of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. The danger to Jews from Nazi power increased while Adenauer was mayor of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, and Adenauer offered refuge to Rülf's son Benno at his family home in Rhöndorf
Bad Honnef
Bad Honnef is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate...
. However, Adenauer was himself forced to flee and take refuge at a monastery. Benno and his wife traveled to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
but, according to a statement of his daughter Elizabeth, he was deported and died in Auschwitz. Isaac's son Jacob committed suicide in Bonn before being deported.
A street in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel is named for Isaac Rülf.
Books
Rülf published a five-volume work of philosophy, System of a New MetaphysicsMetaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, in which he described his theories of theistic monism.
- Meine Reise nach Kowno (1869)
My Journey to Kovno
- Der Einheitsgedanke als Fundamentalbegriff (1880)
- Drei Tage in Jüdisch-Russland (1882)
Three Days in Jewish Russia
- Aruchas Bas-Ammi (1883)
- Wissenschaft des Weltgedankens and Wissenschaft der Gedankenwelt, System einer Neuen Metaphysik (2 vols., 1888)
(the first volumes of System of a New Metaphysics)
- Wissenschaft der Krafteinheit (1893)
- Das Erbrecht als Erbübel (1893)
Legacy Law
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
as a Basic Evil
- Wissenschaft der Geisteseinheit (1898)
- Wissenschaft der Gotteseinheit (1903)
(final volume of philosophy, published posthumously)