HOROWITZ, SAMUEL (Edler von) BEN ISAIAH ARYEH LEIB HA-LEVI

HOROWITZ, SAMUEL (Edler von ) BEN ISAIAH ARYEH LEIB HA-LEVI (1836–1925), Galician financier and communal worker. Although in his youth he was observant to the point of fanaticism, he subsequently abandoned this way of life and joined the maskilim. An outstandingly talented financier, from 1875 he managed his father's bank, established industries, and was considered one of the wealthiest men of Galicia, playing an important role in its economy. In 1896 he was ennobled as "Edler von Horowitz" by the Austrian government. From 1906 he was president of the chamber of commerce and industry in Lemberg (Lvov). He founded a loan fund for Jewish merchants, and supported the philanthropic enterprise of the Baron *Hirsch foundation in Galicia. He served as vice president of the community council of Lemberg from 1883 to 1888, and from 1888 to 1903 was president of the Lemberg community, and was active in developing its charitable and welfare institutions. After associating with the Shomer Israel society (founded in 1867), the main aim of which was to strive for the rights of Jews and to obtain Jewish representation in the Polish Sejm and in the Austrian Parliament, Horowitz was a candidate of the assimilationists in Lemberg in the elections to the Austrian parliament (Reichsrat) of 1907. Although he gained the support of the Orthodox community he was defeated by his socialist opponent. Horowitz was the political representative of Jewish-Polish rapprochement which stressed loyalty to Polish culture, and as such was one of the leading opponents of Zionism. When, during World War i, the approach of the Russian army brought a stream of refugees to Lemberg, Horowitz, as head of the community, was appointed to head a "rescue committee" on which all the parties and social groups of the Jews of the town were represented. After the war he made substantial contributions toward the establishment of a rabbinical seminary in Lemberg.

bibliography:

M.Z. Broda, in: Keneset, 8 (1943/44), 107; Z. Karl, in: J.L. Fishman (ed.), Arim ve-Immahot be-Yisrael, 1 (1946), 337; eg, 4 (1956), 306, 321, 324–5, 327, 334, 530–1; Z. Zohar, Be-Sod Yesharim ve-Edah (1969), 162.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]