The Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest 1877-1977 [antikvár]

Introduction On October 4, 1877 a historic event in the annals of Hungarian Jewry took place in Budapest. In the presence of the members of the Hungarian parliament and government (including the Speaker of the Upper House) and representatives of rabbinical seminaries and institutions of higher learning from all over Western Europe, the Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest was inaugurated. On the following day. Rabbi Moses Bloch, the first rector of the new seminary, kindled the ner tamid (Eternal Light) in the Seminary synagogue. The founding of the Budapest Seminary was a response to the emancipation of Hungarian Jewry, which had received official sanction in 1867, and to the growing involvement of Hungarian Jews in the culture and scholarship of the modem world. The changing circumstances of Hungarian Jewry demanded a modem rabbinical seminary where, in addition to the classic rabbinical studies (Bible, Talmud, Codes, Hebrew and Aramaic, Jewish history and philosophy), students would be trained in the methods of modem scholarship. The Jewish communities of Hungary were in need of broadly educated rabbis who would be able to relate to increasingly sophisticated congregants, young and old. As Ludwig Blau, the Seminary's third rector put it, "The Seminary was created by enlightened Jew." The Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest was a unique institution in its time. It was the only rabbinical seminary to be supported by the Hungarian government (which still supports it today). Its plans were ambitious; its graduates were not only to teach Judaism but also to foster Hungarian patriotism among their co-religionists by disseminating the language and culture of Hungary. The Seminary's academic standards were high. In addition to its theological (rabbinical seminary) division, it maintained a gymndzium (secondary school) for students without an adequate background in the Jewish disciplines (Bible, Talmud, Jewish history and the Hebrew language) and for yeshiva students without sufficient secular education to meet the Seminary's entrance requirements. This fi\e-ycar gymndzium, with its