Leopold Zunz

Raised in Hamburg, Germany, Leopold Zunz helped found the discipline of Wissenschaft des Judenthums (academic Jewish studies), and indeed edited and wrote for the periodical Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums. From 1815 to 1819 he attended the University of Berlin, and obtained his doctorate in 1821 from the University of Halle. Ordained by Rabbi Aaron Chorin, Zunz served at the Reform New Synagogue in Berlin, though his thinking was not always in accord with Reform Judaism. Zunz’s major works included an analysis of Jewish preaching, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden historisch entwickelt and his Namen der Juden, a work defending, against government decree, the adoption of German names for Jews. In 1840, Zunz became director of the Berlin Jewish Teachers’ Seminary. As a scholar, he oversaw biblical translations and wrote a number of historical works.