Ettinger

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ETTINGER

ETTINGER , family noted for its scholars and community leaders, originally from *Oettingen, Bavaria, from which the name derives. It is probably related to families named Oettingen or Ettingen: members of its East European branch were prominent in Jewish life in modern times. First of note was Ḥayyim Judah Leib Ettinger who in 1717 moved from Holesov (Holleschau), Moravia, to head a yeshivah in Lemberg, Poland. His brother, joseph, served as a preacher in Glogau, Silesia, and wrote commentaries on the Torah, Edut bi-Yehosef (Sulz bach, 1741). Ḥayyim's son aaron (1720–1769), rabbi in Jaworow and Rzeszow, fought the spread of Ḥasidism in Galicia. Well-known in the 19th century were Mordecai Ze'ev *Ettinger and his brother-in-law, Joseph Saul ha-Levi *Nathanson. Mordecai's son, Isaac Aaron Ettinger (1827–1891), served as rabbi in Przemysl and Lemberg. With baruch mordecai, rabbi of *Bobruisk in *Belorussia for about 50 years until he settled in Ereẓ Israel in 1851, the family assumed a leading position in *Chabad ḥasidic circles; Baruch Mordecai was a close disciple of *Shneur Zalman of Lyady. In the 20th century many members of the family, such as Akiva *Ettinger, took a prominent part in the economic and cultural life of East European Jewry and Ereẓ Israel. samuel ettinger (1919–1988), who was born in Kiev, became professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He wrote Toledot Yisrael ba-Et ha-Ḥadashah ("Jewish History in Modern Times," 1970) and edited a volume of essays by H. Graetz in Hebrew (Darkhei ha-Historiyah ha-Yehudit, 1969).

bibliography

S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895), 25, 67–69, 123–4, 151–2; Ch. N. Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, 1 (1960), 116–27, 146–9; J. Slutzky (ed.), Sefer Bobruisk (1967), 269. add. bibliography: "Devarim le-Zikhroh shel Shemuel Ettinger," in: Zion, 53:4 (1988), 423–40.

[Yehuda Slutsky]