Pražský rabinát

Gutmann Klemperer's Prague Rabbinate, which was printed in four installments by Pascheles' Illustrierter israelitischer Volkskalender in Prague in 1881-1884, not only provides an interesting example of a scholarly work from the early days of Czech (German-language) Jewish historiography, but is also a testament to its author: a remarkable Jewish personality from the turn of the Enlightenment and modern times, a rabbi who, thanks to his thorough education and wisdom, always managed to find a viable path between tradition and reform. As is evident from his work on the rabbis of Prague, Klemperer was able to present the past in a very authentic way and to masterfully capture the atmosphere and conditions that prevailed in the Jewish world at the time. He gathered information from the study of sources and original writings and from a variety of written material, including works of purely halakhic content that often no longer exist. He also refers to local traditions and oral accounts of historical events that have also fallen into oblivion today, without abandoning his own critical assessment. In this way, his own works themselves become historical sources that the future historian must take into account.
The rabbi and author of numerous historical studies, Gutmann Klemperer (22 August 1815 Prague - 28 January 1884 Tabor) studied at several Prague yeshivas and for two years was also a pupil of the still famous Bratislava rabbi Moshe Sofer. He completed eight years of studies at the Piarist grammar school in Prague and a two-year cycle of lectures at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University. In 1843 he became a preacher in the Jewish community in Tábor, in 1845 he was appointed rabbi of Tábor, and in 1868 he was also elected rabbi of the Tábor region; he held both offices until his death. Under the influence of his teachers, especially Rabbi Shmu'el Landau and Shlomo Yehuda Rapoport, he was one of the first to devote himself to scientific research on the past of Czech Jews. He left behind a literary and scholarly work that is still awaiting serious evaluation.

Czech edition