author
Gotthard Deutsch
1859–1921
An Austrian-born rabbi and historian, he helped shape Jewish scholarship in the United States through teaching, writing, and wide-ranging research. His work joined deep learning with a lively interest in Jewish history, theology, and public life.
1 Audiobook
The history of the Jews
by Gotthard Deutsch
About the author
Born in Moravia in 1859, he came from a rabbinic family and studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau as well as the University of Vienna. After early work as a teacher and rabbi in Central Europe, he moved to the United States in the late 1880s.
He is best known for his long career at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he taught Jewish history and philosophy. He also wrote extensively for Jewish reference works and periodicals, including the Jewish Encyclopedia, and became known as a learned, energetic voice in American Jewish intellectual life.
Remembered as both a scholar and a public thinker, he brought European training into conversation with American Reform Judaism at a formative moment. He died in Cincinnati in 1921.