News Brief

Won Distinction For Achievements in Field of Jewish Learning: Leaders Pay Tribute to Noted Scholar (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Message of condolence at the death of Dr. Z. P. Chajes in Vienna were telegraphic by the Zionist Executive here, the Vaad Leumi, national Council of Palestine Jews and the Hebrew University.

Dr. Chajes was born in Brody, Galicia. Octoer 13, 1876. He was the scion of one of the prominent Jewish families in Eastem Europe which has given a large number of religious leaders and scholars to the world. His grandfather. Zevi Hirsch Chaies, was the author of the “Attereth Zvi” and of “Introduction to the Talumud” and other works.

Dr. Z. P. Chajes gained fame at an early age as an “H##.” (lad of exceptional ability). His education was extensive both in Jewish and secular studies, having graduated from the University of Vienna and the Jewish Theological Seminary there. As a student he published two works, one on medieval Jewish literature and the other on the New Testament. He specialized in the critical exegesis of the Bible, being one of the strongest opponents of the “high criticism” methods employed by many non-Jewish scholars in Germany. As soon as he graduated from the Vienna Seminary he was invited to serve as processor of Hebrew at the University of Florence and to a post at the Rabbinical Seminary in that city He later became Chief Rabbi of Trieste where he also held the post of professor at the University of Trieste.

Following the death of Dr. Moses Gidemann. Chief Rabbi of Vienna. Dr. Chajes was called to the Chief Rabbinate of Austria.

His call to this position by the Vienna Kehillah, in which non-Zionists and non-nationalists were in power, not-withstanding Dr. Chajes’ affiliation with the Zionist movement, was considered a high tribute to his leadership. In accepting this post Dr. Chajes made the condition that he should be freed from the functions usually demanded of the rabbi, such a attending weddings and funerals, leaving him free to prusue his studies and communal work. Among his many activities. Rabbi Chajes established the Jewish Institute of Pedagogy in Vienna.

Besides his research work in the field of Jewish learning. Dr. Chajes was a devoted champion of Zionism and an outstanding orator. He took a leading part in relief work during and after the war, in the work of the Committee of Jewish Delegations at the World Peace Conference and was most active in the councils of the international Zionist movement. For several years he held the position of chairman of the Zionist Actions Committee. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University, taking particular interest in the Institute of Jewish Studies.Dr. Chajes was a member of the international committee of the Kohut Foundation. He visited the United State twice, his last visit being in 1924.

The fiftieth birthday of Dr. Chajes