Ornstein, Abraham Philip

English rabbi; born in London 1836; died at Cape Town Dec. 6, 1895. He was at first a teacher in the Jews' Free School, London, and at eighteen became minister to the Portsea congregation. In 1860 he removed to Birmingham as principal of the Birmingham Hebrew National Schools, remaining there till 1866, when he accepted a call as minister to the Hebrew Congregation, Melbourne, which position he held for ten years. In Melbourne he edited "Australian Israel," founded and took an active share in the management of the almshouses, and became life governor of the hospital. Returning to London in 1875, he made a tour to America, and returned in 1876 to Portsea as principal of Aria College.

In 1882 Ornstein went to Cape Town, where till 1895 he filled the post of head of the congregation. He laid the foundation-stone of the Oudtshoorn Synagogue, and established the congregation at Paarl. On his retirement from ministerial duties he devoted his attention to the establishment of a Jewish collegiate school, in which he achieved considerable success.

His nephew, Abraham Ornstein (b. Jan., 1863; d. Kimberley 1885), was minister to the Kimberley congregation.

Bibliography:

  * Jew. Chron. Jan. 3, 1896.



J. G. L.