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Rabbi Dr. Isaac (Yitzhak) Rülf (February 10, 1831 - September 18, 1902) was a Jewish teacher, journalist and philosopher. He became widely known for his aid work and as a prominent early Zionist. Rülf was born in Rauischholzhausen, Hesse, Germany. He received a teaching certificate in 1849, became an assistant to the county rabbi and then taught in other small communities. He received his rabbinical certificate in 1854 from the University of Marburg and his Ph.D in 1865 at the University of Rostock. That year he became the rabbi of Memel, East Prussia. Rülf first found fame for his part in the 'Jankel Widutzky case' in which an English minister attempted to convert Widutzky, a Jewish youth, in Memel. Rülf attacked the missionary in the article ''Jankel Widutzky, der den Händen der Judenbekehrungs Mission entzogene Knabe'' (1867), sparking indignation in Germany. Widutzky was thus not converted and entered Rabbinical college. ==City of Memel== Memel, in addition to being an important port on the Baltic, was a frontier town and a crossroads between East and West – it lay at the tip of East Prussia, on the border of Russia's Lithuanian province (the Kovner Gubernie). The Jewish community in Memel was divided between Western Jews (Prussian/German) and the Eastern Jews (Polish/Russian/Lithuanian), with the different groups having their own institutions and leaders.〔 This mirrored a continent-wide division based largely on the Easterners' fixation on traditional religious education and their perceived ignorance of worldly affairs. Rülf arrived as rabbi of the German Jews but tried to unite the communities. Beginning in the late 1860s with his relief works, Rülf gained an international reputation for his assistance to Russian Jews. Thereafter, he strove to establish himself as expert on Eastern European Jewry and as a spokesman and intercessor on their behalf. He would use the press and public opinion as leverage for this activity, making the most important change in the tactics of intercession during the 19th century.〔 To supplement his small pay as rabbi, Rülf became an editor of the ''Memeler Dampfboot'', the city's largest liberal newspaper.〔 From 1872 until he left the city, he was editor-in-chief.〔 In 1862 Rülf and Rabbi Yisrael Salanter founded a chevra kadisha together in Memel. In 1879 Rülf created an Armenschule, or school for poor children〔 and in 1886 Rülf directed the funding and building of a synagogue for the German Jews. In 1875 for example, Rülf collected funds among the German Jews to assist the Lithuanian and Russian Jews in building their Beth Midrash.〔Rosin, Joseph. (''Klaipėda (Memel)'' ).〕 In this way he won over the Eastern Jews who had first dismissed this “Doktor-Rabbiner” of the wealthier German minority. In 1871 he and two collaborators caused a Jewish hospital to be built in Memel.〔 It drew so many patients to the city that in 1896 a new, larger building was put up. It has been restored and still stands today, in use as a hospital, at its scenic hilltop site.〔 The early 1880s saw a series of efforts to force Jews out of Memel in increasing numbers.〔 Rülf raised a great deal of money for the exiles' travel and living expenses.〔 Many of these people were given enough to reach the United States. In 1885, Rülf used his political contacts in Germany to prevent a final mass expulsion of Jews from Memel.〔 In 1898, Rülf retired from his position and moved with his family to Bonn, Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Isaac Rülf」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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