Introduction
Born: November 26, 1858, London, England.
Died: October 6, 1925, Cambridge, England.
Born: November 26, 1858, London, England.
Died: October 6, 1925, Cambridge, England.
Israel was the son of Barnett Abrahams.
He was one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars of his generation, and wrote a number of classics on Judaism. He was educated at Jews’ College, where his father was principal, and at University College, London (MA 1881).
Abrahams taught secular subjects as well as homiletics at Jews’ College, and became senior tutor there in 1900. He was also a lay preacher, honorary secretary of the Jewish Historical Society of England, a member of the Committee for Training Jewish Teachers, and belonged to the Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and several other institutions.
In 1889, Abrahams became joint editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review. He was also a prolific contributor to periodicals, and was especially well known for his articles on literary subjects, which appeared weekly in the Jewish Chronicle under the title of Books and Bookmen. He also contributed to the 1903 Encyclopædia Biblica.
In 1902, after teaching for several years at Jews’ College, Abrahams succeeded Solomon Schechter, who was moving to New York to head the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as reader in Talmudics at Cambridge University.
In 1914, Abrahams published A Companion to the Authorised Prayer Book, a commentary on and supplement to the prayer book edited by Simeon Singer. Singer had intended to write such a work, but died before he had progressed very far. Revised editions appeared in 1922 and 1932.
In 1922, Abrahams was invited to deliver the Schweich Lecture of the British Academy. The lectures were published under the title Campaigns in Palestine from Alexander the Great.
If you know Abrahams’ burial place,