Background
After his father"s death he went to Dubno (he was then fourteen), where he continued his Talmudical studies.
After his father"s death he went to Dubno (he was then fourteen), where he continued his Talmudical studies.
He was educated as a Talmudist. After his marriage he went to Wilna, entered its rabbinical school, and graduated as a rabbi. In 1873 he became assistant rabbi at Odessa, where he was the first to deliver sermons in Russian, and where he studied law at the university.
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon him by the University of Jena.
He became associated with the Ḥasidim in that community and with their "rabbi," Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, with whose son David he spent some time studying Jewish philosophy and Cabala. About 1880 he settled in Leipzig and occupied himself with literary work and with teaching. In 1900 he visited the United States.
He returned to Leipzig in 1901, and was visiting Vienna when he suddenly became ill and died in the Jewish hospital of that city.
