Chief Rabbi Maier (or Majer) Zipser z'tl born in Balassagyarmat, 14. August 1815. - died at Rohonc (today Rechnitz, Austria), 10. December 1869. Rabbi, one of the leaders of the Conservative (Neolog) movement of the Hungarian Jewry.
He studied in various yeshivot, first in his hometown, Balassagyarmat at the yeshiva of Rabbi Meir Eisenstädter, then, at age of 15 he went to Prossnitz, Moravia (today Prostějov, Czech Republic), to the yeshiva of Rabbi Nehemias Trebitsch. Following his master, he continued his theological and philosophical studies in Nikolsburg (today Mikulov, Czech Republic). The talented, hard-working Zipser studied German and French language, studied the works of Schiller and Shakespeare. As he was granted a rabbinical diploma (semikhah) in 1837, he returned to his hometown for a while. Subsequently, he was working in Alt-Ofen (Óbuda) as an educator of the families Goldberger and Bobély. He could study the rich private library, and learned Greek and Latin language. While still engaged in his talmudic studies, he acquired a broad general, secular education partly through the assistance of Löw Schwab, rabbi of Pest, partly through his own endeavors, and graduated from the University of Pest in 1851.
In 1844 he was appointed rabbi of Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweissenburg). The young rabbi was an unswerving devotee of progression. As soon as he assumed his position he called for reforms in the order of prayer: the exclusion of the piyyutim (liturgical poems) from the obligatory prayers and their recital in silence. They prayed for the emperor and the political authorities in Hungarian. A group of Jews, insisting to the tradition, with the leading of a disciple of the famous Moses Shreiber (Chatam Sofer), Gottlieb Fischer attacked Zipser on account of a divorce bill (get) which he had granted without a precedent (by which although he had not violated the rules of the Talmud, but he didn't act according to the strictest tradition as it was generally accepted in his era ). In his defense he wrote a pamphlet in 1853 entitled Mei ha-Shiloah ("Waters of Siloah"): Rabbinisches Gutachten über Jüdische Ehescheidung (Rabbinic opinion on jewish divorce).
He reformed education: in 1844 he established a Jewish elementary school instead of the traditional private school (cheder). He created the Statute of the jewish community (1845) in the spirit of the reform, which lead to a lot of debate, conflict. The Chevra Kadisha ("Holy Society" , ie. burial society) of Székesfehérvár was found in 1853. Zipser had a great role in preparing its statutes. Such as in Hungary, in Székesfehérvár also, the Jews were strongly divided by the consideration of the efforts to progress and the reforms. It's lead to the leaving of Zipser in 1858 and finally to the disruption of the community in 1862 into Orthodox and to Neolog (Conservative).
In 1850 he went to England, where he published his apologetic work "The Talmud and the Gospels" (1851). It was republished by the community if London in 1852 as "the Sermon on the Mount Reviewed..." , in reply to statesments made by two members of parliament, Inglis and Newgate.
The Bach-era (Alexander Bach was Austrian minister of the interior at the time with the mission of transforming Hungarian public administration in such a way that all chance for commotion should be eradicated; the 1850s are therefore also referred to as Bach era in Hungarian historiography) and the conflicts in his community made him dishearten so he planned to emigrate to America, or to England, where he would hope the implementation of his reforms rather then in Hungary, where most of the jewish communities did not want to hear about them. Finally in 1858, Zipser accepted a call from the community of Rohonc (today Rochnitz, Austria) where he was working until his death in 1869. He actively participated in the works of the Jewish Congress in 1868.
Most of his religious and historical studies were published in the Litteraturblatt des Orients, and in the Jewish Chronicle. Zipser reports in the press the expulsion of the Jews from Székesfehérvár during the events of March, 1848. (Eine Szene aus dem ungarischen Kriege- A scene from the Hungarian war).
His studies published in the Litteraturblatt des Orients:
Studies published in the Jewish Chronicle:
He was working also for the journals "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums) and "Ben Chananya", journal of Lipót Lőw, Chief rabbi of Szeged. His studies which were published in this paper:
In addition, his ceremonial speeches and sermons were also published. From the manuscript found in his heritage, Adolf Jellinek, Chief Rabbi of Vienna published the translation of Josephus Flavius' work: Über das hohe Alter des jüdischen Volkes gegen Apion. Nach hebräischen Originalquellen erläutert und nach M. Zipsers Tode ausgegeben und bevorwortet (Against Apion, About the antiquity of the Jewish nation) (1870). His biography and picture was published in Reich's booklet, Beth-El 5. (1862).
Sources:
The book "Über das hohe Alter des jüdischen Volkes gegen Apion" is fully available in German original on .
(Yechiel)