Landau, Leibush Mendel

views updated

LANDAU, LEIBUSH MENDEL

LANDAU, LEIBUSH MENDEL (1861–1920), rabbi and co-founder of the *Mizrachi movement. Born in Sieniawa, Galicia, Landau was ordained by the great rabbis of his time. He first served as a rabbi in Jaroslaw, Galicia, and from 1897 to his death was a rabbi in Botoşani. He joined the Jewish national movement in Galicia and traveled to many cities and towns on educational and propaganda missions, engendering the animosity of the Ḥasidim, who prevented him from receiving a rabbinical post in a number of cities. Landau visited *Herzl after he appeared on the Jewish scene, and in his diary (for Jan. 6, 1897) Herzl described this visit and even sent him to visit the Czortkow rebbe to give him a letter. Ḥasidim prevented the letter from reaching its destination. Landau participated in the founding conference of Mizrachi in Pressburg (1904) and continued his public and Zionist activities in Romania.

bibliography:

eẒd, 3 (1965), 216–9; Sefer Przemysl (1964), 91–92.

[Getzel Kressel]