Zimmels, Hirsch Jacob

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ZIMMELS, HIRSCH JACOB

ZIMMELS, HIRSCH JACOB (1900–1975), rabbi and scholar. Zimmels, born in Yavorov, Poland, lectured from 1929 to 1933 at the Juedisch-Theologisches Seminar, Breslau, and from 1934 to 1939 was rabbi of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Vienna. Zimmels left Austria for England after the Nazi Anschluss in 1938, and in 1944 was appointed lecturer in Bible, Talmud, and Jewish history at Jews' College London. He became director of studies in 1961 and was principal in 1964–69.

Zimmels' published works, based mainly on his important research into responsa literature, include: Beitraege zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland (1926); R. David ibn Abi Simra's (R.D.b.S) Leben und Lebenswerk (1932); Die Marranen in der rabbinischen Literatur (1932); Magicians, Theologians and Doctors (1952); and Ashkenazim and Sephardim (1958).

[Alexander Tobias]