Zadoc Kahn

Zadoc Kahn, photo byNadar.

Zadoc Kahn(French pronunciation:[zadɔkkan];18 February 1839 inMommenheim,Alsace– 8 December 1905 inParis) was anAlsatian-Frenchrabbiandchief rabbiofFrance.

Life

In 1856 he entered therabbinical schoolofMetz,finishing histheologicalstudies at the same institution after it had been established atParisas the Séminaire Israélite; and on graduation he was appointed director of theTalmud Torah,the preparatory school of the seminary. In 1867 he was appointed assistant to Chief Rabbi Lazare Isidor of Paris, whom he succeeded in the following year, when Isidor became chief rabbi of France. As Kahn had not yet reached the prescribed age of 30, he had to obtain a dispensation before he could accept the office, his election to which had been largely due to his thesisL'Esclavage Selon laBibleet leTalmud(1867; later translated intoGermanandHebrew). The community of Paris attained to a high degree of prosperity and enlightenment under Kahn's administration.

On Chief Rabbi Isidor's death in 1889 Kahn was unanimously elected chief rabbi of France, and was inducted on 25 March 1890. He then entered upon a period of many-sided philanthropic activity. He organized the relief movement in behalf of theJewsexpelled fromRussiasubsequent to enactment ofMay Lawsunder ministerNikolay Pavlovich Ignatyevand czarAlexander III,and gave much of his time to the work of theAlliance Israélite Universelle,which elected him honorary president in recognition of his services. AgainstTheodor Herzl,he initiated to the German Jewish philanthropist BaronMaurice de Hirschthe project of setting up a Jewish colony inArgentina,before he created theJewish Colonisation Association(I.C.A.) in 1891.

Kahn helped obtain financial assistance via auspices of theRothschild familyforFerdinand Walsin Esterhazy,in June 1894; whom later would be deeply implicated in theDreyfus affair.He aided in establishing many private charitable institutions, including the Refuge du Plessis-Piquet, near Paris, an agricultural school for abandoned children, and the Maison de Retraite atNeuilly-sur-Seine,for young girls. He was appointed Chevalier of theLegion of Honorin 1879 and Officer in 1901. He was also Officer of Public Instruction.

Zadoc Kahn was one of the founders, the first vice-president, and, soon after, president, of theSociété des Études Juives(1879). He was considered a brilliant orator, and one of his most noteworthy addresses was delivered on the centenary (11 May 1889) of theFrench Revolution— "La Révolution Française et le Judaïsme".

Literary works

Kahn has published the following works:

• Sermons et Allocutions(1875, 1886, 1894)
• Sermons et Allocutions Addressés à la Jeunesse Israélite(1878)
• Études sur le Livre de Joseph le Zélateur,a collection of religious controversies of the Middle Ages (1887)
• Biographie de M.Isidore Loeb
• "Discours d'Installation" (25 March 1890)
• Religion et Patrie,addresses
• Souvenirs et Regrets,funeral orations

References

• (in French)Chantavoine,"L'Éloquence Sacrée dans la Religion Juive", inJournal des Débats,1898
• (in French)E.E. Curinier,Dictionnaire National des Contemporains
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Isidore SingerandÉdouard André(1901–1906)."Kahn, Zadoc".InSinger, Isidore;et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

External links

• (in French)Short biography