Stern (Szterényi), Albert

Hungarian rabbi; born at Nagy-Kanizsa in 1826; died in the insane asylum at Ofen June 16, 1888; educated at Presburg and Ofen. Stern, who was the son-in-law of Rabbi Hirsch Bär Fassel, officiated as rabbi at Lengyeltoti from 1851 to 1867, when he was called to the rabbinate of Uj-Pest; but on account of his extravagant demands in behalf of Reform he was obliged to resign the latter position in 1884.

Stern was a versatile scholar. He founded the German periodical "Ha-Meḥaḳḳer" (3 vols., 1877-1879), in which he published his studies on the laws governing proselytes, the history of rabbinical seminaries, exhumation, ritual divorce, the life of Alfasi, and the judicial decisions "Dinah de-Malkuta Dina." He wrote also on Jewish names (Nagy-Kanizsa, 1864), and on the law and history of burial (Pesth, 1874).

In his desire for assimilation, Stern changed his name to Szterényi. All of his five children accepted baptism. His son Joseph Szterényi is at present (1905) secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.

S. L. V.