Jacob Teitel, Jewish Author, dedication to Zionist Heinrich Loewe on his book “Aus meiner Lebensarbeit”, 1929, in German
Dedication of Jacob Teitel to Zionist Heinrich Loewe on frontispiece of his book “Aus meiner Lebensarbeit)
Added cover of a letter, sent to Heinrich Loewe by Jacob Teitel
German translation by Dr. Elias Hurwicz
Frankfurt a. M.: I. Kauffmann, 1929, First edition. XVI, 215, [1]pp.,
Original Illustrated Lithographed soft cover, signed in the plate. Size: 20 x 14 cm.
Forward by Prof. S. Dubnow and Maxim Gorki. Text in German.
Condition: cover slightly worn, stained, spine discolored, rubbed.
Moderate foxing to edges, endpapers, title page.
Several foxing stains to last pages.
Weight: 310 gr.
Remarkable autobiography of Jacob Teitel (1851–1939), a social
activist and judge in the czarist Ministry of Justice. From his position in the
government in provincial Russia, Teitel was able to aid Jews affected by legal
restrictions by interceding with influential individuals. This work offers a
window to view the changes in Jewish life and reflects the complexities of the
Jewish experience during the late czarist period.
Jacob Teitel (1851–1939), jurist and communal worker. Teitel, the son of a wealthy family of maskilim, was born in Cherny Ostrov, Podolia. He graduated in law at the university of Moscow in 1875 and was appointed examining magistrate in the region of *Kuibyshev (Samara) and, in 1904, judge of the district tribunal of *Saratov, and was one of the first Jews in Russia to be employed in the judicial service during the czarist regime. He was often urged to convert. He was compelled to resign (1912), but continued to participate in the public life of the Volga region and maintained contact with the Russian intelligentsia, authors and artists, many of whom praised him in their works and memoirs (including M. *Gorki). He devoted himself to communal and philanthropic work, especially in assisting Jews oppressed by the authorities, and was among the founders of a large relief enterprise which supported the Jewish youth who felt compelled to leave to be able to pursue their studies at higher institutions in Western Europe. Teitel left the Soviet Union in 1921. He became president of the Union of Russian Jews in Germany, and collaborated with the relief organization for Russian-Jewish refugees. When the Nazis came to power, Teitel transferred his activities to France, where his memoirs, lz moyey zhizniza sorok let, were published in 1925. A festschrift, edited by N.L. Aronson and others, was published for his 80th birthday in 1931.
LOEWE, HEINRICH (Eliakim ; 1867–1950), one of the first Zionists in Germany, scholar in Jewish folklore, and librarian. Born in Wanzleben, Germany, into an assimilated family, Loewe was raised without a Jewish education and at the age of 13 began to study in a Protestant high school in Magdeburg. Afterward he studied at Berlin University and at the Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. Together with Shmarya *Levin, Yosef *Lurie, Na?man *Syrkin, and Leo *Motzkin he established the Zionist group known as the Russian Jewish Scientific Society and was the only one among this group who was born in Germany. In 1892 Loewe founded Jung Israel, the first Zionist group in Germany. He was also among the founders of the Vereinigung Juedischer Studierender, which gave rise in 1914 to the *Kartell Juedischer Verbindungen, the roof organization for Zionist students in Germany. Loewe edited the Juedische Volkszeitung in Berlin from 1893 to 1894 and, from 1895 to 1896, the monthly Zion.
In 1895 Loewe visited Ere? Israel for the first time and became known to *Herzl even before the publication of Der Judenstaat. Two years later he returned to Ere? Israel with the intention of settling there, but he returned to Europe in August 1897 as a delegate from Ere? Israel to the First Zionist Congress. After the Congress he remained in Germany and established the Zionist Federation. From 1899 Loewe worked as a librarian in the University of Berlin. He quickly rose in professional status until he was appointed professor in 1915. From 1902 to 1908 he was the first editor of *Juedische Rundschau, the central organ of the German Zionists. In 1905 he gave impetus to Joseph *Chasanowich's idea to establish a Jewish national library in Jerusalem by writing a memo to the Seventh Zionist Congress. His proposal was accepted unanimously. Throughout his career he worked for the library and was the moving spirit of the Verein der Freunde der Jerusalem-Bibliothek.
In 1933 Loewe settled in Palestine and assumed the post of librarian of the municipal library Sha'ar Zion in Tel Aviv. In 1948 he prepared a collection of his writings on Zionism formerly published in part under the pseudonym Heinrich Sachse as Anti-semitismus und Zionismus (1894) and Zionistenkongress und Zionismus eine Gefahr? (1897). He frequently published works in the field of Jewish folklore such as Die Sprachen der Juden (1911), Die Juden in der katholischen Legende (1912), Schelme und Narren mit juedischen Kappen (1920), and Reste vom alten juedischen Volkshumor (1922).