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Schiller-Szinessy, Solomon Mayer

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Reader in rabbinic at Cambridge University; born at Alt-Ofen, Hungary, 1820; died at Cambridge March 11, 1890. After a distinguished academic career he graduated as doctor of philosophy from the University of Jena, being subsequently ordained as a rabbi. He was next appointed assistant professor at the Lutheran College of Eperies, Hungary. During the great upheaval of 1848 he supported the revolutionists in the war between Hungary and Austria, and it was he who executed the order of General Torök to blow up the bridge at Szegedin, by which act the advance of the Austrian army was checked. Wounded and taken prisoner, he was confined in a fortress, from which he managed to escape the night before his intended execution. Fleeing to Triest, he took passage for Ireland and landed at Cork, proceeding thence to Dublin, where he preached by invitation of the congregation. He then went to London, and subsequently was elected minister of the United Congregation at Manchester. This was before the secession which led to the establishment of a Reform congregation in that city.

Chiefly owing to Professor Theodores, Schiller-Szinessy was offered and he accepted the office of minister to the newly formed congregation. This position he resigned in 1863 and went to Cambridge, where he engaged in teaching, and likewise undertook to examine the Hebrew manuscripts in the University Library. The fruit of his labors in the latter direction was his "Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts Preserved in the University Library, Cambridge," Cambridge, 1876. In 1866 he was appointed teacher of Talmud and rabbinical literature, and subsequently reader in rabbinic. In recognition of his services the university conferred upon him the degree of M.A. in 1878.

Among Schiller-Szinessy's contributions to literature may be mentioned an edition of David Ḳimḥi's commentary on the Psalms, book , and "Massa ba'Arab," Romanelli's travels in Morocco toward the end of the eighteenth century.