Adolf Jellinek

Adolf Jellinek ( Aharon Jelinek; 26 June 1821 – 28 December 1893) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar. After filling clerical posts in Leipzig (1845–1856), he became a preacher at the Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna in 1856.

Life and work Jellinek born in Drslavice, Moravia.

He was associated with the promoters of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, and wrote on the history of the Kabbalah

Jellinek published in the six parts of his Beit ha-Midrash (the above mentioned periodical; 1853–1878) a large number of smaller Midrashim, ancient and medieval homilies and folklore records, which have been of much service in the revival of interest in Jewish apocalyptic literature. A translation of these collections of Jellinek into German was undertaken by August Wuensche, under the general title Aus Israels Lehrhallen.

Before the study of ethnic psychology had become a science, Jellinek devoted attention to the subject. There is much keen analysis and original investigation in his two essays Der jüdische Stamm (1869) and Der jüdische Stamm in nicht-jüdischen Sprichwörtern (1881–1882). Jellinek compared the Jewish temperament to that of women in its quickness of perception, versatility and sensibility.

Jellinek was probably the greatest synagogue orator of the 19th century. He published some 200 sermons, in most of which are displayed unobtrusive learning, fresh application of old sayings, and a high conception of Judaism and its claims. According to Abrahams, Jellinek was a powerful apologist and an accomplished homilist, at once profound and ingenious. Another son, Max Hermann Jellinek (1868–1938), was made assistant professor of German philology at Vienna University in 1892, A third son, Emil Jellinek (1853–1918), was an automobile entrepreneur, whose daughter Mercedes inspired the brand name of Mercedes and eventually Mercedes-Benz. His daughter Paula Jellinek married a lawyer, Dr. Jur. Heinrich Wechsberg and was the aunt of psychiatrist Erwin Wexberg. A brother of Adolf, Hermann Jellinek (born 1823), was executed at the age of 26 on account of his association with the Hungarian national movement of 1848. One of Hermann Jellinek's best-known works was Uriel Acosta. Another brother, Moritz Jellinek (1823–1883), was an accomplished economist, and contributed to the Academy of Sciences essays on the price of cereals and on the statistical organization of the country. He founded the Budapest tramway company (1864) and was also president of the corn exchange.