Löw Schwab

Löw Schwab was a controversial Hungarian rabbi, the first rabbi in Moravia to preach in German. He advocated both for moderate reforms of Jewish practice and of Austro-Hungarian law, with the dual goals of reviving of the Jewish faith and state emancipation. Schwab’s reformist desires were narrow: he stressed modernization while hoping that educated, increasingly assimilated Jews would stay within the fold. He worked tirelessly to close the radical Reform congregation in Budapest, succeeding in 1852.