Friedman, Aaron Ẓebi

Shoḥeṭ: born in Stavisk, Poland, March 22, 1822; died in New York city May 17, 1876. At the age of seventeen Friedman became shoḥeṭ for the city of Stavisk and the neighboring country. He removed to Bernkastel-on-the-Moselle, Germany, where he became rabbi and shoḥeṭ in 1844. Four years later he went to New York, where he was chosen as shoḥeṭ of one of the largest abattoirs in the city. Friedman held this position until his death. Owing to charges of cruelty made by Henry Bergh, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Friedman wrote (1874) a defense of sheḥiṭah entitled "Ṭub Ṭa'am," translations of which were two years later made from the Hebrew into English, French, and German. His strict Orthodoxy and learning caused him to be widely known as the "Ba'al Shem" of America.

Bibliography:

  * Drachman, Neo-Hebraic Literature in America, in the Seventh Biennial Report of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association, pp. 65, 96;
  * Harper's Monthly, Oct., 1878, pp. 768, 769.



A.