Open Rebuke

Born in Lemberg (present-day Lviv) to a rabbinical family, Solomon Judah Rapoport (Shi”r) was a Talmudist and a moderate maskil, as well as a pioneering academic Jewish studies scholar. Son-in-law of Aryeh Leib Heller, he helped publish the latter rabbi’s work, Avne milu’im in 1815 by adding indexes and marginalia. He became interested in the Haskalah and secular literature but was forced to earn a living as a kosher meat tax collector. He published articles for Bikure ha-itim, including biographies of medieval rabbinic figures. In 1837 he became a rabbi in Tarnopol, Galicia; subsequently the conservative community accused him of heresy. From 1840 until his death he lived in Prague, serving as a rabbinic court judge and as the city’s rabbi.