Joseph Chotzner

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Reverend Joseph Chotzner (1844-1914) was the first rabbi of the Jewish community in Belfast, Ireland. Rev. Chotzner served from 1870-1880 at the helm of the Belfast Synagogue.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, R. Chotzner was "born at Cracow, Austria, May 11, 1844; educated at the Breslau rabbinical seminary and the University of Breslau. After his ordination Chotzner became the first rabbi of the congregation at Belfast, Ireland, officiating from 1870 to 1880; and he again held the rabbinate there from 1892 to 1897." He also taught (1880-92) at Harrow School. From 1897-1905 he was a lecturer at Montefiore College, Ramsgate, established by Moses Montefiore.

Chotzner wrote "Lel Shimmurim" (The Night of Observances), a poetry collection, Breslau, 1864; "Modern Judaism" (1876), "Humor and Irony of the Hebrew Bible," 1883; the memoirs "Zikronot" (1885); and "Hebrew Humour and Other Essays" (1915).

Alfred James Chotzner, Joseph's son, became a High Court Judge in Calcutta and a Member of Parliament in the UK.

[edit] Bibliography

• Jewish Encyclopedia entry, adapted C. D. Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexikon, i. 66.

[edit] See also

• History of the Jews in Northern Ireland