Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy
Encyclopedia
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
- 11 March 1890, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
) was a Hungarian rabbi
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...
and academic. He became the first Jewish Reader in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature
Rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term...
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Life
He graduated as doctor of philosophy and mathematics from the University of Jena, being subsequently ordained as a rabbi. He was next appointed assistant professor at the Lutheran College of Eperies, Hungary.During the great upheaval of 1848 he supported the revolutionists in the war between Hungary and Austria, and it was he who executed the order of General Torök to blow up the bridge at Szegedin, by which act the advance of the Austrian army was checked. Wounded and taken prisoner, he was confined in a fortress, from which he managed to escape the night before his intended execution. Fleeing to Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, he took passage for Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and landed at Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, proceeding thence to Dublin, where he preached by invitation of the congregation. He then went to London, and subsequently was elected minister of the United Congregation at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. This was before the secession which led to the establishment of a Reform congregation in that city.
Chiefly owing to Tobias Theodores, Schiller-Szinessy was offered and he accepted the office of minister to the newly formed congregation.
He married Georgiana Eleanor Herbert (1831-1901), who converted to Judaism and took the name Sarah. Their first-born child was Alfred Solomon (born 1863), who, like his father he started as an academic but disappeared and probably died during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as war-correspondent, leaving a widow and daughter, Ella Regina (1893-1984), in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Subsequent children included Theresa Antonia (1864-1865), Eleanor Amalia (1867-1922), Henrietta Georgiana (1869-1939), and Sydney Herbert (1876-1964).
From his position in Manchester he resigned in 1863 and went to Cambridge, where he engaged in teaching, and likewise undertook to examine the Hebrew manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library
The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of Cambridge University in England. It comprises five separate libraries:* the University Library main building * the Medical Library...
. The fruit of his labors in the latter direction was his "Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts Preserved in the University Library, Cambridge," Cambridge, 1876. In 1866 he was appointed teacher of Talmud and rabbinical literature, and subsequently reader in rabbinic. In recognition of his services the university conferred upon him the degree of M.A. in 1877. He was the first Jew in either Oxford or Cambridge to be placed on the Electoral Roll.
Among Schiller-Szinessy's contributions to literature may be mentioned an edition of David Ḳimḥi
David Kimhi
David Kimhi , also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK , was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian. Born in Narbonne, Provence, he was the son of Rabbi Joseph Kimhi and the brother of Rabbi Moses Kimhi, both biblical commentators and grammarians...
's commentary on the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, book i., and "Massa ba'Arab," Romanelli
Romanelli
Romanelli is a family name of Italian origin. The 1990 Census found that Romanelli was the 21,280th most common surname in the United States. Some people named Romanelli include:*Carl Romanelli , a Green Party activist in Pennsylvania...
's travels in Morocco toward the end of the eighteenth century.
His burial place is in Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, Suffolk, at the "Old Jewish Cemetery".