Iliowizi, Henry

American rabbi and author; born in Choinick, in the government of Minsk, Russia, Jan. 2, 1850. His father was affiliated with the Ḥasidim. Iliowizi was educated at first in the local ḥeder, afterward at the yeshibah of Vietka, where he studied under Rabbi Bear, and later at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Berlin, Breslau, London, and Paris. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Jassy, Rumania, to escape military conscription; he left Jassy for Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1865.

Iliowizi became a teacher in the schools of the Anglo-Jewish Association and of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. From 1877 to 1880 he taught in the Alliance's school at Tetuan, Morocco. In July, 1880, he emigrated to New York. For a brief time he was minister of a congregation at Harrisonburg, Virginia; from 1880 to 1888, rabbi of the Congregation Sha'aré Tob in Minneapolis; and from 1888 to 1900, of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Philadelphia. Since 1900 he has devoted himself exclusively to literature.

Iliowizi's writings include: "Sol," an epic poem (1883); "Herod," a tragedy (1884); "Joseph," a drama (1885); "Through Morocco to Minnesota" (1888); "Six Lectures on Religion" (1889); "Jewish Dreams and Realities" (1890); "The Quest of Columbus" (1892); "Saul" and "A Patriarch's Blessing," tragedies (1894); "In the Pale: Stories and Legends of Russian Jews" (1897); "The Weird Orient" (1901). He has also published many articles in "The Jewish Messenger" and "The Jewish Exponent."

Bibliography:

  * Morals, The Jews of Philadelphia, passim, Philadelphia, 1894;
  * Jew. World, May 31, 1901, pp. 156, 157.



A. A. M. F.