Religionיעקב יהודה הופמן

Jacob Hoffman

Jacob Hoffman was an Orthodox religious Zionist rabbi and scholar of Islam who served as rabbi of the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main from 1922 to 1937.

1881 to 1956Rabbi of Frankfurt am MainReligious Zionist Mizrachi activityResearch on Jewish law and the Quran

Born: 9 March 1881, Pápa
Died: 22 June 1956, Tel Aviv
Occupation: rabbi

Jacob Hoffman was born in 1881 in Pápa

Jacob Hoffman was born on March 9, 1881, in Pápa, Hungary. In 1897 he began studying at the Pressburg yeshiva, where he was ordained as a rabbi. Alongside his Torah studies he completed a general education.

He studied philosophy at the University of Vienna and earned a doctorate in 1919. His dissertation dealt with links between Jewish law and the Quran. He was active in religious Zionism and was a delegate to the first world Mizrachi conference in 1904.

He served as a rabbi in Vienna, in Kostel in Moravia and in Rădăuți in Bukovina. During World War I he held a rabbinic role connected to the army.

In 1922 he was called to serve as rabbi of the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, succeeding Nehemiah Anton Nobel. He also headed a Torah institution that combined yeshiva and general studies. Under Nazi rule he was part of the leadership of German Jewry, and in 1937 he was arrested and expelled.

He later served as vice president of Mizrachi in the United States and as rabbi of the Ohab Zedek congregation in New York. In his last years he lived in Israel. He died on June 22, 1956.