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20th-century historical-geographer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Samuel Klein (Hebrew: שמואל קליין; lived 17 November 1886 – 21 April 1940) was a Hungarian-born rabbi, historian and historical geographer in Mandatory Palestine.
Samuel Klein Professor of Palestinology | |
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| Born | Samuel Klein 17 November 1886 Hungary |
| Died | 21 April 1940 |
| Citizenship | Mandatory Palestine |
| Alma mater | Freidrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin and Heidelberg University |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, Historical geographer, and Linguist |
| Title | Rabbi, Professor |
Born in Hungary to Idel Hertzfeld and to Avraham Zvi Klein, a rabbi of Szilas-Balhas in western Hungary, he initially received a traditional Jewish education (1893–1897), graduating from the Government Gymnasium at Budapest in 1905. From 1906 to 1909, he went on to study at the orthodox Rabbinerseminar in Berlin,[1] a Jewish Theological Seminary where he was ordained in the rabbinate, and from there to Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin, before advancing to Heidelberg University where he wrote a thesis entitled: Beiträge zur Geographie und Geschichte Galiläas (Leipzig 1909) (Contributions to the Geography and History of Galilee), his first important contributions to the science of Historical Topography of the Holy Land.[2] In it, he gave an incisive analysis of the topographical and historical material preserved in the liturgical poems of Kalir, and by which novel work he received in 1909 his PhD.
He served as a rabbi in the city of Tuzla in Bosnia from 1909 to 1913, during which time, in 1911, the Association for Jewish Studies in Berlin awarded him a research grant of 500 Marks which enabled him to conduct research in Palestine. After he had taken a wife in 1913, he then served as the rabbi of the town of Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) (1913-1928). During the First World War, Klein was conscripted in the Austro-Hungarian army as a rabbi, and became the patron and benefactor of some 200 refugees who came to Nové Zámky in search of a new life.
In 1924, Klein became the first professor of the newly opened Institute of Jewish Studies, which was to form part of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1927, Klein was an instructor at the Hebrew Pedagogical Institute in Vienna, an institute involved in training of Hebrew teachers for the countries of Central Europe and the Balkans. In 1929 he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine where he began work as Professor of Geography of the Land of Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and worked in this capacity until his death.[3] While at the Hebrew University, Klein was chairperson of the Historical Topography of Palestine.[4] He is the author of many books and articles, both in Hebrew and in German, mostly treating on the subject of historical geography. Klein's research on the geography of the Land of Israel has helped promote a greater understanding of the map of ancient Israel / Palestine, and whose works have been incorporated in Hebrew schools in the Diaspora and in Israel.
In Mandatory Palestine, he became a member of the Hebrew Language Committee, as well as participated in committees on Geography and Archaeology. In his final years, he served as the President of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, a consortium of British Mandate scholars. He died at the age of 53 in his home in the Bukharim quarter of Jerusalem on the eve of Passover, 1940, and was buried at the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, William F. Albright, and David Yellin wrote moving eulogies of the man upon his death.[5][6][7] In the words of Albright: "Samuel Klein represents Jewish philological research at its best; his erudition was exhaustive, covering Graeco-Roman as well as Hebrew and Aramaic sources; his critical judgment was sound and highly developed; his acumen and insight into complex historical and topographical situations were unsurpassed among specialists in the field." Klein's greatest contribution to scholastic research is his identification of old place names in Palestine during the classical period, drawn principally from the Hebrew Bible, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, and from the writings of Josephus in transliterated Greek form, as well as from other epigraphic texts of antiquity.
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