KISCH, ALEXANDER

KISCH, ALEXANDER (1848–1917), Austrian rabbi and scholar. Born in Prague, Kisch studied at the Breslau Jewish theological seminary, and at various universities. In Paris he became a tutor in Baron Horace *Guenzburg's house. He served as rabbi in Bruex (Most), Bohemia (1874–77); in Zurich, Switzerland (1877–81); in Jungbunzlau (Mlada Beleslav), Bohemia (1881–86); and at the Meisels Synagogue in Prague (1886–1917). While serving in Zurich, Kisch founded and published (1878–80) the first Swiss-Jewish weekly, Neue Israelitische Zeitung. In 1899, Franz Joseph i awarded Kisch a gold medal for 25 years' service as a military chaplain; at the audience, Kisch persuaded the monarch to strongly condemn antisemitism, which was then assuming alarming proportions after the *Hilsner trial for ritual murder. Kisch was the first and only rabbi in Austria to be appointed a government professor of religion (1900) and an inspector of religious education (1909). Among Kisch's published works are: Papst Gregordes Neunten Anklageartikel gegen den Talmud (1847), Hillel der Alte (1889), Das Testament Mardochai Meysels mitgetheilt und … beleuchtet: Festschrift zum 300-jaehrigen Jubilaeum der Meyselssynagogue (1893), Das mosaisch-talmudische Eherecht von R. Ezechiel Landau (1900), and Versuch einer neuen Erklaerung der in der Alkuinhandschrift Nr. 795 der Hofbibliothek Wien enthaltenen gotischen Fragmente (1902).

Bruno *Kisch and Guido *Kisch were his sons.

bibliography:

G. Kisch, Alexander Kisch 1848–1917 (Ger., 1934); G. Kisch (ed.), Breslau Seminary (1963), 423 (incl. bibl.)

[Oskar K. Rabinowicz]