Ehrenreich, Moses Levi

Italian rabbi; born at Brody, Galicia, 1818; died at Rome Dec. 27, 1899. Having graduated from the gymnasium of his native city, Ehrenreich, attracted by the reputation of Samuel David Luzzatto, went to Padua to study at the Istituto Rabbinico, where he received the rabbinical diploma (May 10, 1845). He immediately began teaching at Göritz, where he became friendly with Isaac Reggio, whose daughter Helena he married later on. After a short stay at Triest, he became rabbi at Modena, and in 1861 rabbi at Casale, Piedmont. In 1871 he was teacher in the families of Guastalla and Malvano at Turin, and in 1882 he was called to the principalship of the Talmud Torah in Rome, shortly afterward becoming chief rabbi of the Italian capital. It was through his efforts and under his direction that the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano was reopened in 1887. In 1894 the infirmities of old age compelled his retirement from the rabbinate.

His chief literary work consisted of the part he took the translation of the Bible into Italian under the direction of Luzzatto, for which he translated Hosea, Micah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. He also wrote a biography of his father-in-law, Isaac Reggio. He was a member of the committee of the society of Meḳiẓe Nirdamim from its reestablishment in 1885.

Bibliography:

  * Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1900, p. 20;
  * Vessillo Israelitico, 1900, p. 23.



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