Frankel, Zacharias

Frankel, Zacharias

(born Sept. 30, 1801, Prague, Bohemia—died Feb. 13, 1875, Breslau, Ger.) Hungarian German rabbi and theologian. He graduated from the University of Budapest and served as rabbi in several German communities. As chief rabbi in Dresden (1836–54), he developed a theology called positive-historical Judaism, which diverged from Orthodox Judaism in its willingness to accept scientific and historical research as well as changes in the liturgy but adhered to traditional customs more firmly than Reform Judaism. In 1854 he became president of Breslau's Jewish Theological Seminary, and his theology spread through central Europe and to the U.S., where it took root as Conservative Judaism. His books include Introduction to the Mishna (1859) and Introduction to the Palestinian Talmud (1870).