Query: The "Hoffmann'sche Yeshiva" in Frankfurt a.M.

Robert S. Schine Discussion

For some biographical research, I'd be grateful for any help in finding out more about what was called the "Hoffmann'sche Jeschiwa" in Frankfurt am Main and about one of its teachers, Reb Yisroel Korn. The Yeshiva was still functioning in 1934, and perhaps beyond.

Thank you

Robert Schine

Middlebury College

5 Replies

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For a detailed, but minimally critical account of Rabbi Dr. Hoffmann including his yeshiva, see:
Yaakov Zur, Rabbi Dr. Jacob Hoffman: The Man and his Era (Ramat-Gan: Advanced institute for Torah Studies - Bar-Ilan University, 1999), [Hebrew/English]. Re his yeshiva, 75-100.

There are references in the exhibition catalogue _Hinaus aus dem Ghetto. Juden in Frankfurt am Main, 1800-1950_, ed. Heuberger/Krohn (pp. 161, 165, 179) to the yeshiva founded by Rabbi Jakob Hoffmann after World War 1 as a successor to the earlier yeshiva founded by Rabbi Markus Horovitz (see p. 78), soon after he became rabbi in Frankfurt in 1878. Neither this exhibition catalogue, nor another source I consulted on the history of Jews in Frankfurt, Paul Arnsberg, _Neunhundert Jahre 'Muttergemeinde in Israel' Frankfurt am Main. Chronik der Rabbiner_, mentions Yisroel Korn in its name index. However, both these books point to further documentary sources that could be relevant.

Dana Hollander
McMaster University

Dear Robert,

The archives of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, hold documents by and about Rabbi Jacob Hoffman (1881-1956). A biographical sketch in the online catalog reads:

"Jakob Hoffmann (later Jacob Hoffman) was born in 1881 in Papa, Hungary. He studied at the Pressburg Yeshiva (today Bratislava) and received his rabbinical ordination in 1905/1906. From 1906 to 1908 he served as rabbi of the Montefiore congregation in Vienna, then became rabbi in Kostel, Moravia (today Podivín, Czech Republic) until 1912, when he accepted the position as chief rabbi in the Bukovina town of Radautz. During WWI he served as chief field rabbi in the southern region. Following the war he continued to serve in Radautz (now Rădăuți) which had now become part of Romania. In 1923 he was offered the position of Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Frankfurt am Main. Here he held the rabbinical office from 1923 to 1937 and was elected to serve on the Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden. In 1937 he was arrested by the Gestapo. As a Hungarian national, his release was negotiated and he was expelled from Germany, whereupon he left for the United States hoping to raise money for the Jews in Germany. In New York he was elected rabbi of Ohab Zedek where he served until 1953. In 1954 he moved to Israel together with his wife, Recha Hoffmann nee Schlesinger. In addition to his rabbinical studies in Bratislava, he completed a PhD at the University of Vienna in 1919. He was also awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Yeshiva University in 1951. Hoffmann was a founding member of the Mizrachi organization in the Bukovina and active in the movement throughout his life. He died in 1956 in Tel Aviv."

https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/5/resources/18459

Regards,

Liran Yadgar (Monterey, CA)

There is an entry in Wikipedia which refers to the biography of Yaakov Tzur which was published in Hebrew and a shorter version in English.

Re: "The Hoffmann'sche Yeshiva" in Frankfurt a. M.

for more details of R. J. J.Hoffmann s biography ,publications, sources and secondary literature see "Biographisches Handbuch der Rabbiner", Teil 2, Die Rabbiner im Deutschen Reich 1871-1945, vol .1. Aaron-Kusznitzki, p. 287-88.
Or:

online: http://www.steinheim-institut.de:50580/cgi-bin/bhr?id=2244&suchename=Ho…,

Michael Brocke