Markus Horovitz

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Markus Horovitz (March 14, 1844-1919) was a Hungarian-Jewish rabbi and historian. He was born in 1844, at Ladány, near Tokaj, Hungary. The descendant of an ancient family of scholars, he pursued his rabbinical studies at the yeshivot of Ujhely, Verbé, and Eisenstadt (the last-named then in charge of Israel Hildesheimer). He studied (1868-71) philosophy and Orientalia at the universities of Vienna, Budapest, and Berlin, taking his Ph.D. degree at Tübingen. In Dec., 1871, he was called as rabbi to Lauenburg in Pomerania; in 1874, to Gnesen, Prussian Posen; and in Sept., 1878, to Frankfort-am-Main. At Frankfort he organized two model religious schools. Horovitz is one of the directors of the Deutsche Rabbinerverband, and president of the German Jewish orphanage at Jerusalem.

[edit] Conflict and career

Horovitz was rabbi in Frankfort at a time when the disagreements between the Orthodox and Reform factions were reaching their peak. Horovitz was appointed to chair a committee on ritual to placate the Orthodox followers of Samson Raphael Hirsch, who were threatening to found of a separate community, the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft ("Religious Society of Israelites"). He was given authority over the entire community's religious institution, and promoted the construction of a new Orthodox synagogue on the Börneplatz, which was dedicated on September 10, 1882. Horovitz promoted the coexistence between the different factions; maintaining that it was possible for a unified community to exist while both sides exercised autonomy over their own institutions.

Horovitz retired in 1910 and died in Frankfort in 1919. He was buried in the cemetery in RatBeil Straße.

[edit] Writings

Besides numerous sermons; Matteh Lewi, ("Levi's Guide") a work in Hebrew on letters of divorce (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1891); and essays on the origin of the Hungarian Jews (in Izraelita Közlöny, 1869) Horovitz published the following works: Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Gemeinde in Eisenstadt, 1869; "Jose ben Jose," in Jüdische Presse, 1873; Frankfurter Rabbinen, ("Frankfurt Rabbis") 4 parts, Frankfort-am-Main, 1882-85; Jüdische Aerzte in Frankfurt-a.-M. ("Jewish Doctors in Frankfurt am Main"), 1886; Die Wohlthätigkeitspflege bei den Juden im Alten Frankfurt, 1896; "Zur Statistik der Jüdischen Bevölkerung im Alten Frankfurt," 1896; Die Frankfurter Rabbinerversammlung vom Jahre 1603, 1897; Die Inschriften des Alten Friedhofes der Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Frankfurt-a.-M. ("Inscriptions at the Old Cemetery of the Jewish community"), 1901. The last work depicts gravestones and inscriptions at the old Battonstraße cemetery, and has, since the destruction of the cemetery by the Nazis, become a vital historical document.