Israel Abrahams
Israel Abrahams (b.
London,
November 26 1858; d.
Cambridge,
October 6 1925) was one of the most distinguished
Jewish scholars of his generation. He wrote a number of classics on
Judaism, most nostably,
Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896).
He was educated at
Jews' College, where his father
Barnett Abrahams served as principal, and at
University College, London. In 1881, he received the degree of
MA from the
University of London. Abrahams taught secular subjects as well as
homiletics at Jews' College, and was appointed senior tutor of that institution in 1900. He was a forceful lecturer and an earnest lay preacher. As honorary secretary of the Jewish Historical Society of England and as a member of the Committee for Training Jewish Teachers, he was very active. He was also a member of the Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and of several other institutions of the community.
Abrahams collaborated with
Claude Montefiore to write the book
Aspects of Judaism, which was published in 1895. His chief works were
Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896) and
Chapters on Jewish Literature (1898). In 1889, he became joint editor of the
Jewish Quarterly Review and helped materially to raise the prestige of the publication. He was a prolific contributor to periodical literature, and was especially well known for his articles on literary subjects, which appeared weekly in the
Jewish Chronicle under the title of "Books and Bookmen."
In 1902, after teaching for several years at Jews' College, Abrahams succeeded
Solomon Schechter, who was moving to
New York to head the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as reader in
Talmudics at
Cambridge University.
In
1914, he published
A Companion to the Authorised Prayer Book, a helpful commentary on and supplement to the prayer book edited by
Simeon Singer. Singer himself had intended to write such a work, but died before he had progressed very far. Revised editions appeared in
1922 and
1932.
*
Jewish Encyclopedia:By :
Goodman Lipkind*
Free ebook of Israel Abrahams at
Project Gutenberg
