É. Apor (ed.): David Kaufmann Memorial Volume: Papers Presented at the David Kaufmann Memorial Conference, November 29, 1999, Budapest.

ORMOS, István: David Kaufmann and his Collection

DAVID KAUFMANN AND HIS COLLECTION of the representative bodies of the community that Kaufmann was too conservative, leaning towards orthodoxy - it is well known that the Berlin community was the centre of ultra-reformism at this time. As a result of this, albeit most politely, his application was turned down. Kaufmann also caused indignation by not praying in proper footwear on the Day of Atonement, disregarding the elements of good forms (gegen alle gute Sitte). It is not clear whether in contemporary German the word Filzsocken

, which occurs in our source as Kaufmann's footwear, designated "socks" in the modern meaning of the word or rather some sort of felt slippers.'" The leadership of the Berlin community, which consisted of assimilants making a great show of their adoption of German manners and customs, did not like Kaufmann's interpretation of Verse 7 of Psalm 85: "You will give us life again when we as a people rejoice together with you." (Du wirst uns wieder beleben, wenn wir uns als Volk mit Dir freuen.) (This German rendering of the verse, which differs somewhat from most modern translations, is completely acceptable on the basis of the Hebrew original.) Kaufmann was not ready to make any concessions in the field of religion either, so for instance he was not willing to abolish the sounding of the shofar nor to conclude marriages in the sefira days of mourning. Kaufmann dedicated his Berlin sermons to Leopold Zunz (David Kaufmann: Sieben Festpredigten. Berlin 1877). Zunz wrote the following dedicatory lines on a photograph of himself that he sent to Kaufmann: "Weltlicher und geistlicher Tyrannei dienen drei Hülfsheere: Schurkerei, Schwachköpfe, Esel; drei Bundesgenossen: Armuth, Reichthum, Unwissenheit; drei Fertigkeiten: Sophistik, Charlatanerie, Aberglauben"." It was exactly at this period, however, that a rabbinical seminary was being organized in Budapest - after extremely long preparatory negotiations, this new institution was at last formally opened on 4 October 1877. It was organized on the model of the Breslau Seminary but differed from its German counterparts in so far as it was founded upon the initiative of the King and the state, and was under state control right from the beginning.

1

2 " K

RAUSS 1901 (1902) 9-10. ' It was published as a chapter of the Attributenlehre. See below. 1

0 KRAUSS 1901 (1902) 13'. Cf. Socke: e. Fussbekleidung von weichem Stoffe mit flachen Sohlen, als Pantoffeln od. als Überschuhe getragen (z. B. Filzsocken, wollene Socken etc.): kurze Strümpfe, die nur bis an od. über die Knöchel reichen. Joh. Christ. August HF.YSE, Handwörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Magdeburg 1833-1849. II. 940-941. 1

1 F

RANKL-G

RÜN 1896-1901. III. 156-157. 1

2 GROSZMANN Zsigmond, A magyar zsidók a XIX. század közepén (1849-1870) [Hungarian Jews in the middle of the 19th century (1849-I870)|. Budapest 1917. 72-82, 123. KRAUSS 1901 (1902). 14. 127