David Cassel was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and Jewish theologian.

Life

Cassel was born in Gross-Glogau, a city in Prussian Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

 with a large Jewish community. He graduated from its gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

.

Cassel's name is intimately connected with the founders of Jewish science

Wissenschaft des Judentums

Wissenschaft des Judentums , refers to a nineteenth-century movement premised on the critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, using scientific methods to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions.-The Verein für Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden:The ...

 in Germany—Zunz

Zunz

Zunz, Zuntz is a Yiddish surname: , Belgian pharmacologist* Leopold Zunz , German Reform rabbi* Gerhard Jack Zunz , British civil engineer- Zuntz :* Nathan Zuntz , German physiologist...

, Geiger

Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...

, Steinschneider, Frankel

Frankel

Frankel is the surname of:* Charles Frankel , American philosopher, known for Charles Frankel Prize* Benjamin Frankel , British composer* Bethenny Frankel, American chef and reality television personality...

, and others. In appreciating his great scholarship in Jewish literature

Jewish literature

Jewish Literature refers to works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works of various themes written in Jewish languages, or literary works in other languages written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature and rabbinic literature...

 it must not be forgotten that he was born in a city in which Jewish learning had been maintained at a very high standard, and which has given to the world many noted scholars: Salomon Munk

Salomon Munk

Salomon Munk was a German-born Jewish-French Orientalist.Munk was born in Gross Glogau in the Kingdom of Prussia. He received his first instruction in Hebrew from his father, an official of the Jewish community; and on the latter's death he joined the Talmud class of R. Jacob Joseph Oettinger...

, Joseph Zedner

Joseph Zedner

Joseph Zedner was a German Jewish bibliographer and librarian.After completing his education, he acted as teacher in the Jewish school in Strelitz , where the lexicographer Daniel Sanders was his pupil. In 1832 he became a tutor in the family of the book-seller A...

, Michael Sachs

Michael Sachs

Michael Sachs was a German rabbi from Glogau , Silesia.He was one of the first Jewish graduates from the modern universities, earning a Ph.D. degree in 1836. He was appointed Rabbi in Prague in 1836, and in Berlin in 1844...

, H. Arnheim, and others.

Cassel became a student at the Berlin University, where he attended the lectures of the Orientalist F. H. Petermann, the philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg

Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg

Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg was a German philosopher and philologist.-Early life:He was born at Eutin, near Lübeck. He was educated at the universities of Kiel, Leipzig, and Berlin...

, the philologist Philip Boeckh, and others. He, besides, maintained very friendly relations with Moritz Steinschneider

Moritz Steinschneider

Moritz Steinschneider was a Bohemian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider , who was not only an expert Talmudist, but was also well versed in secular science...

, H. Jolowicz, L. Landshut, and Paul de Lagarde

Paul de Lagarde

Paul Anton de Lagarde was a polymath German biblical scholar and orientalist. He also took some part in politics. He belonged to the Prussian Conservative party, and was a violent antisemite. The bitterness which he felt appeared in his writings...

. During the whole time of his university studies he supported himself by giving lessons; and having thus experienced all the bitterness of poverty, he became later one of the founders of the Hülfs-Verein für Jüdische Studierende, a society for assisting poor Jewish students in Berlin, which is still in existence.

Cassel began his career as an author with his doctor's thesis on "Die Psalmenüberschriften" (published in the "Literaturblatt des Orients," Leipzig, 1840). He received his rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

nical diploma in 1843 from J. J. Oettinger and Z. Frankel, but never accepted, a rabbinical position, although he possessed a decided talent for the pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

, as may be seen from his "Sabbath-Stunden zur Belehrung und Erbauung" (Berlin, 1868), a collection of 52 homilies on the Pentateuch, originally delivered as Sabbath lectures in a school for boys. In 1846 Cassel became principal of an educational institute called the "Dina-Nauen-Stift," in which position he remained until 1879. He was, besides, in 1850 and 1851 teacher of religion in Berlin at the congregational school for Jewish girls, and from 1852 to 1867 at the Jewish school for boys. From 1862 to 1873 he was also a teacher at the Jewish Normal School. In 1872, when the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums ("Hochschule

Hochschule

Hochschule is a German term with two meanings.The literal meaning of the word Hochschule is “high school” which is not appropriate as a translation.- Generic term :...

") was established in Berlin, Cassel was elected one of the docents. He died in Berlin.

Works

Cassel wrote a great number of valuable books, besides many essays for the Jewish magazines. Some of his works were written mainly for educational purposes; e.g., the above-mentioned "Sabbath-Stunden" and the following:

• "Leitfaden für den Unterricht in der Jüdischen Gesch. und Litteratur," Berlin, 1868 (translated into various languages);
• "Gesch. der Jüdischen Litteratur," 2 vols., Berlin, 1872-73, dealing only with Biblical literature;
• "Hebräisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch," etc., Berlin, 1871, last ed., 1891;
• "Lehrbuch der Jüdischen Gesch. und Litteratur," Leipzig, 1879; 2d ed., Berlin, 1896.

In addition to these he edited, or contributed introductions and notes to, several scientific works of great value, of which the following may be mentioned:

• "Cat. Hebräischer Schriften," Latin part by himself, and Hebrew by Rebenstein (Bernstein), Berlin, 1845;
• David Conforte
  David Conforte
  David Conforte was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known by the title Ḳore ha-Dorot.-Biography:...
  
  's "Ḳore ha-Dorot," a biographical and bibliographical lexicon of Jewish scholars with introduction and notes, Berlin, 1846;
• "Zikron Yehudah," responsa of Judah ben Asher
  Judah ben Asher
  Judah ben Asher was a German Talmudist and later rabbi of Toledo, Spain, brother of Jacob ben Asher . These dates are deduced from the evidence furnished by Judah's testament and epitaphs Judah ben Asher (June 30, 1270 – July 4, 1349) was a German Talmudist and later rabbi of Toledo, Spain,...
  
  , published by Rosenberg, with introduction and notes by Cassel, Berlin, 1846;
• "Teshubot Geonim Ḳadmonim," responsa of the earlier Geonim, edited from a Berlin manuscript, with an introduction by J. L. Rapoport, in "He-Ḥaluẓ," Berlin, 1848, viii.138;
• the "Yesod 'Olam" of Isaac Israeli
  Isaac Israeli ben Joseph
  Isaac Israeli ben Joseph or Yitzhak ben Yosef was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer/astrologer who flourished at Toledo in the first half of the fourteenth century...
  
  , an astronomical work edited by B. Goldberg and L. Rosenkranz, with an introduction and a German translation by Cassel, Berlin, 1848; published by Rosenberg
  Rosenberg
  - Places :* Rosenberg, Baden, a municipality in the district of Neckar-Odenwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany* Rosenberg , a municipality in the district of Ostalbkreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
  
   with notes and references by Cassel, Berlin, 1856;
• Index to De Rossi
  Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi
  Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi was an Italian Christian Hebraist. He studied in Ivrea and Turin. In October 1769, he was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the University of Parma, where he spent the rest of his life...
  
  's "Dizionario Storico," Leipzig, 1846;
• the "Cuzari" of Judah ha-Levi, with a German introduction and translation and very numerous explanatory and critical notes, which fully testify to Cassel's erudition in Jewish-Arabic philosophy, Leipzig, 1840-53, Berlin, 1869 (in this work Cassel was assisted to some extent by H. Jolowicz);
• "Meor 'Enayim" of Azariah dei Rossi
  Azariah dei Rossi
  Azariah ben Moses dei Rossi was an Italian-Jewish physician and scholar. He was born at Mantua in 1513 or 1514; and died in 1578. He was descended from an old Jewish family which, according to a tradition, was brought by Titus from Jerusalem...
  
  —a classical edition, Vilna, 1866;
• the Apocrypha
  Apocrypha
  The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
  
  , translated into German from the Greek, Berlin, 1864-71;
• "Die Pesach-Haggadah", with German introduction, translation, and critical notes (latest edition, Berlin, 1895);
• "Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache" of H. Arnheim (died 1870), with introduction, notes, and additions by Cassel, Berlin, 1872.

Cassel further wrote pamphlets on questions of the day, such as:
"Woher und Wohin? Zur Verständigung über Jüdische Reformbestrebungen," Berlin, 1845;

• "Die Cultusfrage in der Jüdischen Gemeinde von Berlin," Berlin, 1856, a defense of his friend Michael Sachs against the attacks by the Orthodox;
• "Offener Brief eines Juden an Prof. Dr. Virchow
  Rudolf Virchow
  Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
  
  ," Berlin, 1869;
• "Joseph Caro und das Buch Maggid Mesharim," published in the "Jahresbericht" of the Berlin Hochschule, Berlin, 1888, in which he proves, against Grätz
  Heinrich Graetz
  Heinrich Graetz was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective....
  
  , that this book was not written by Caro.

Cassel is also the author of all the articles dealing with Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and Jewish literature in Brockhaus

Brockhaus

Brockhaus may refer to:* Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus , German encyclopedia publisher and editor** Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, German-language encyclopedia**Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Russian-language encyclopedia...

' "Konversations-Lexikon

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon or Meyers Lexikon was a major German encyclopedia that existed in various editions, and several titles, from 1839 until 1984, when it merged with the Brockhaus encyclopedia....

". He also wrote articles for the publications of the Society of Hebrew Literature of London.

Finally, it must be mentioned that Cassel, while still a young man, conceived the plan of publishing a Jewish encyclopedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

 containing everything of interest to Judaism. With the assistance of M. Steinschneider he composed the "Plan der Real-Encyclopädie des Judenthums," Krotoschin, 1844; but, inasmuch as Jewish studies

Jewish studies

Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...

were still in their infancy, the plan, though pursued for some time, could not be carried out.