Leopold Zunz[[140-2]] was born at Detmold, in Germany, on August 10, 1794 (15th of Ab, 5554). His early life was passed at Hamburg, where his father had opened a Hebrew school. There young Zunz received his first training, but after the death of his father he was sent by his mother to Samson's Free School at Wolfenbüttel, where his intelligence attracted the attention of one of his teachers, Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg by name, who bestowed special care upon him. Here it may be mentioned, in passing, that Jost, the historian, was his schoolfellow, and that a close friendship sprang up between them, which lasted both their lives[[141-1]].
In 1809, when only fifteen years old, Zunz was already found capable of assisting in tuition at his own school, but while teaching others he made use of all the available time at his disposal to increase his own knowledge. He attended for some years the Gymnasium at Wolfenbüttel, and in 1815 he matriculated at the Berlin University, being the first Jew admitted as a student to a Prussian university. The principal studies he pursued there, were history, philology, and mathematics. He frequented especially the lectures of De Wette, F. A. Wolf, and Boeckh. He also employed part of his time in reading books of modern literature, and in 1817 he published a few pieces of light prose and verse in some Berlin periodicals. From a pecuniary point of view Zunz derived very little advantage from these literary contributions, but they were nevertheless useful to him, inasmuch as they made his name known in some of the Berlin literary circles, and thus paved the way for his subsequent appointment to the post of editor-in-chief of the Sperner'sche Zeitung that appeared daily in Berlin as a political paper.
It was fortunate for Zunz that, while at the university, he still kept up his previous studies in Hebrew and Rabbinical lore, for owing no doubt to the knowledge he possessed of these subjects he was appointed, in 1820, the first German preacher of the Reformed Synagogue at Berlin. This appointment, however, he gave up voluntarily, after having held it for two years; the reason for so doing is stated in the preface to his Collection of Sermons, which he published at Berlin in 1823. It appears that Zunz, noticing the general indifference of his congregation in religious matters, spoke his mind pretty freely about it in the pulpit. His audiences consequently diminished, and his position became intolerable. He therefore resigned his office, but was lucky enough after to find employment on the above-mentioned paper, which enabled him to marry the lady of his choice. This was Adelaide, née Berman, a relation of David Frankel, Chief Rabbi of Berlin[[142-1]].
In 1835 Zunz accepted the offer made by a section of the Jewish community of Prague to become its preacher, but, after a year's stay at Prague, he returned to Berlin, where he was subsequently appointed Principal of the Training College for Jewish teachers. When, in 1850, this institution ceased to exist, Zunz retired into private life, receiving, however, a small pension from the Berlin community as an acknowledgment of the useful services he had rendered to Judaism by his contributions to Jewish science and literature. On this scanty income, sometimes slightly increased by the profits of his books, Zunz and his wife managed to live pretty comfortably, and even occasionally to entertain their friends. Among the latter may specially be mentioned Professor Gans, M. Jost, Joseph Lehmann, M. Moser, Dr. Carrière, the Deputy Warburg, and last, but not least, Heinrich Heine. Heine seems to have been especially attached to them. He used to read to them his poems in MS., some of them, which bear a specific Jewish colouring, were very probably suggested by his learned host[[142-2]]. In his visits to England, France, and Italy, Zunz inspected many rare MSS., which had been hidden away in various public and private libraries, and likewise obtained fresh material for his literary works.
Zunz always referred to his wife in the most affectionate terms, and in a letter addressed to a friend some time before her death he said that for a period of forty-two years she had been a most faithful helpmate to him, sharing all his joys and sorrows, and encouraging him in his work. Her death, which occurred on August 18, 1874, caused Zunz the greatest sorrow, and from that moment he became more and more melancholy, and was never again in a fit state of mind to undertake any important literary work. Yet he lived, though in strict retirement, to celebrate his ninetieth birthday, on which occasion a tribute of respect was paid to him by some of his friends and admirers, which took the shape of a volume, entitled Jubelschrift zum 90sten Geburtstag des Dr. Leopold Zunz. It contained literary contributions from Steinschneider, Neubauer, Jellinek, Güdemann, David Kaufmann, Derenbourg, and other scholars. A few years later, viz. on March 17, 1886, corresponding to the 11th of the Hebrew month of Adar, Zunz died peacefully. Zunz's valuable and interesting library was subsequently bought by the Trustees of the Montefiore College Library at Ramsgate, while his unpublished MSS. were taken possession of by the Trustees of the so-called “Zunz-Stiftung,” founded at Berlin in 1864 in commemoration of Zunz's seventieth birthday, with the object of giving pecuniary assistance to Jewish authors, and enabling them to publish such of their MSS. as the authorities of the “Stiftung” considered fit.
Zunz's literary labours began at an early age. In 1818 he published an essay entitled A Study in Rabbinical Literature, which is specially interesting on account of its containing a definition of the various subjects that constitute Jewish literature, to which, however, neither past nor contemporary students had paid due attention. It may at once be said that, though it was originally written with the view of inducing scholars of his time to work out the subjects mentioned therein, it was the author himself who did the most in giving effect to his own suggestions.
In 1823 he published a sketch of the life and works of the famous commentator on the Bible and the Talmud, Rabbi Solomon Yizchaki, commonly called “Rashi” (1040–1105). This essay may be said to be a model biographical sketch. It contains almost all the ingredients which go to compose an interesting and instructive whole. It is characterized by method and the critical acumen, which is generally sadly lacking in biographies written before his time, and has indicated new lines of thought in more directions than one.
A few years later, in 1830, Zunz's attention was drawn to a book entitled Théorie du Judaïsme, which a French priest, Chiarini by name, had published at Paris, in which he inimically discussed the Talmud and Rabbinical literature generally. Being himself unable to read the Rabbinical writings in the original, Chiarini contented himself with the repetition of almost all the adverse criticisms which had appeared in the writings of Buxtorf, Bartolocci, Eisenmenger, and others. At the time of the publication of this book Zunz was collecting materials for his intended great work Homilies of the Jews, but he found time to write and issue a small pamphlet under the title of Beleuchtung der “Théorie du Judaïsme” des Abbé Chiarini (Berlin, 1830), pointing out therein some of the more flagrant inaccuracies and plagiarisms of Chiarini's book.
But Zunz did not belong to that class of critical reviewers who, though quick in detecting the faults of others, cannot show that they themselves would have done much better in the same field of work. For two years after the issue of Chiarini's book (in 1832) he published a work which showed at once the master-mind of a first-rate scholar, and gained for its author an enduring fame. This work was entitled Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden (“Homilies of the Jews”). There the author gives a description of the evolution of culture among the Jews extending over more than two thousand years. Beginning with a general survey of the great moral influence, which the teachings of the Bible had exercised on the mind of the Jewish people, the author goes on to define Jewish tradition, and to describe its progress and its development. The reader thus becomes acquainted with the history of the genesis of the Mishna, the Talmud, and the Midrash, and likewise with the form of prayers and sermons that prevailed at different times among the Jews. Speaking of sermons Zunz shows in his Gottesdienstliche Vorträge that preaching has at all times formed an important part of the synagogue service, and that, during the eighteenth century, sermons were even delivered in the vernacular in several Jewish places of worship belonging to Portuguese congregations. Zunz's special object was to show the injustice of the decree of the Prussian government, which forbade preaching in synagogues, on the plea that it was an exclusively Christian institution. This he contended was not historically correct, as long before the dawn of Christianity the use of homilies in synagogues was common, and ought, therefore, not to be interfered with in modern times. Thus it will be seen that Zunz had a double object in view in this book. In the first place, he desired to point out to his own people the vast amount of interesting and valuable material to be extracted from the wide field of Jewish literature; and, in the second, he wished to afford the outer world an insight into the intellectual life of the Jews of past ages. They were then, according to the evidence adduced by Zunz, much more civilized and cultured than their unscrupulous enemies declared them to be, and they had, therefore, a good right to claim in the country of their birth perfect equality in the eyes of the law.
Zunz's second great work, entitled Beiträge zur Geschichte und Literatur, was published in 1845. It contains a number of essays on diverse Jewish subjects, which are full of interest. In the preface to this work the author makes the following noteworthy remarks: “Jewish literature plays an important part in the general culture of the nations of antiquity, and is also closely connected with the origin and the gradual development of Christianity at large. It has likewise exercised a marked influence on past and present generations, and participating, as it did, in their common struggles and sufferings, it has become, as it were, a supplement to the entire literature of the world. And indeed, if mental activity generally may be compared to a vast and boundless sea, then Jewish literature deserves to be designated as one of the streams which flowed into it and helped it to a wider expansion.”