Background

Gotthard Deutsch was born on January 31, 1859 in Kanitz, Austria. He was the son of Bernhard L. and Elise (Wiener) Deutsch.

Education

Deutsch received his elementary and secondary education in the schools of his birthplace and of Nikolsburg from whose gymnasium he graduated at the age of seventeen.

Shortly thereafter, on October 6, 1876, he entered the famous rabbinical seminary at Breslau, Germany.

While pursuing his Jewish studies at this seminary he attended also afternoon classes at the university of that city. Foremost among the professors at the rabbinical seminary was Heinrich Graetz, the famous historian whose History of the Jews, has long been recognized as the magnum opus in the field of Jewish history. Graetz exerted so decisive an influence on the young student that he was chiefly instrumental in determining the bent of his studies.

At the close of a three years’ term, the “academic triennium, ” at Breslau Deutsch went to Vienna with the purpose of matriculating at the university.

He began his studies there in the fall of 1879, specializing in the history and literature of the Jews. The two leading Jewish scholars in the Austrian capital at this time were Isaac Hirsch Weiss, an encyclopedic Talmudic scholar, and Adolf Jellinek, famed not only as a great preacher but as an authority in the province of midrashic research. These two men were inspiring influences in the formative student years of young Deutsch.

After a stay of two years at the university he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He also passed the required examination for a teacher’s diploma in history. At about the same time he received his rabbinical diploma from Isaac Hirsch Weiss.

Career

Deutsch's first position after graduation was in the religious school of the Jewish congregation at Brünn, the Moravian capital. In 1882 he was appointed teacher of religion in the German high school of that city. He had chosen the teaching profession rather than the rabbinate but owing to the governmental discrimination against Jewish teachers he was led to change his purpose and in 1887 accepted the call extended to him by the congregation of Brüx to become its rabbi. He served there for four years, resigning in 1891 to accept the position of professor of history and philosophy of religion at the Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical seminary of liberal Judaism at Cincinnati, Ohio, upon which post he entered on December, 2 of that year and which he filled with distinction until his death.

He served as acting president of the institution for six months from February until October 1903.

During his residence of three decades in the United States, Deutsch occupied a distinguished position in the Jewish world. He played an active role in many Jewish movements. He was a constant contributor not only to the well-known Cincinnati Jewish journals, the American Israelite and its German supplement, Die Deborah, but likewise to Jewish newspapers in Europe and throughout the United States. Shortly after his removal to Cincinnati he contributed to the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, the foremost Jewish newspaper of Germany if not of the European continent, a series of sketches on American-Jewish life that created somewhat of a sensation at the time. As one of the editors of the Jewish Encyclopedia and the head of its historical department he contributed many articles to this publication. Possibly the most important of these contributions is his lengthy article on AntiSemitism in which he traced the origin and history of this movement.

Achievements

• One of the world's greatest Jewish scholars, Deutsch possessed a knack for memorizing facts, biblical scriptures, secular literature, and world history. He also wrote in several languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French, and English.

Works

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  • Jew and Gentile; Essays on Jewish Apologetics and Kindred Hystorical Subjects; Scrolls, Vol. III. 1920

    ( About the Book Collections of Essays are anthologies th...)

  • Israel Bruna; An Historical Tragedy in Five Acts. Boston-1908

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • The history of the Jews

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Aaron's Rod

    (A description of the magical rod used by Aaron, brother o...)

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Connections

Deutsch married Hermine Bacher in 1888.

Father:

Bernhard L. Deutsch

Mother:

Elise (Wiener) Deutsch

Wife:

Hermine Bacher