Isaak Marcus Jost Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains 219 letters written by Isaak Markus Jost between 1815 and 1860. Almost 200 of them are addressed to Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg. Most of the remaining letters were sent to Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg's son Philipp Ehrenberg or both of them. These letters contain discussions about contemporary politics, Jewish education and scholarship as well as the Jewish communities of Berlin and Frankfurt am Main. One of the recurring problems discussed is the education of Jewish youth who tended to leave Jewish schools for the public education system.
The entire collection is composed of correspondence in handwritten Kurrentschrift.
Dates
- 1815-1860
Creator
Language of Materials
The collection is in German.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical Note
Isaak Marcus (Markus) Jost was a German-Jewish historian born on February 22nd, 1793, in Bernburg and died on November 22nd, 1860, in Frankfurt am Main. Born to a fairly poor family, he became a pupil at the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. This school was founded as a talmudische Lehranstalt (a Talmud-School) by Philipp Samson and developed into an educational institution for poor German-Jewish children. It was here that he met Samuel Meyer Ehrenburg, who became the school's headmaster in 1807. Jost and Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg maintained a life-long friendship. In 1809, Jost left the Samsonschule and pursued his education in Braunschweig. From 1813 onwards, Jost studied at Universities in Goettingen and Berlin. In 1835 he was appointed as a teacher at the Philanthropin School in Frankfurt am Main. Jost was one of the most important German-Jewish historians. His most famous work is his opus magnum Geschichte der Israeliten seit der Zeit der Maccabaer (The History of the Israelites since Maccabean times), which was published in 9 volumes between 1820 and 1829.
Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg, born on October 16th, 1773, in Braunschweig to Rabbi Levi Meyer and Hale (née Landau) Meyer, was a German-Jewish reform teacher (Reformpaedagoge). He died on October 21st, 1853. From 1789 to 1794, Ehrenberg went to the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. After some teaching positions in Brandenburg, Berlin and Peine, he became Inspector (headmaster) of the Samsonschule on April 1st, 1807. He remained at the school until his death in 1853. Educationally, he was guided by the principles of Enlightenment and Reform Judaism and in strong support of Reformpaedagogik (progressive education). Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg was married to Henriette (Jette) Maas (1781-1845).
Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg's second son, Philipp Ehrenberg, was born in 1811. He succeeded his father as headmaster of the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. Philipp married Julie Fischel, who was born to a renowned rabbinical family in Prague. Like his father, Philipp was a close friend of Isaak Markus Jost.
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection comprises a huge amount of letters that the German-Jewish historian Isaak Markus Jost sent to his former teacher and good friend Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg and his son Philipp Ehrenberg. Prominent issues are education, politics and intellectual life in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in one series.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Correspondence
- Education, Elementary -- Germany
- Ehrenberg family
- Ehrenberg, Philipp, 1811-1882
- Ehrenberg, S. M.
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
- Germany -- Politics and government -- 1789-1900
- Institut zur Förderung der Israelitischen Literatur
- Jewish historians
- Jewish religious education
- Jewish teachers
- Jost, I. M. (Isaak Markus), 1793-1860
- Reform Judaism
- Samsonschule (Wolfenbüttel, Germany)
- Wissenschaft des Judentums (Movement)
- Wolfenbüttel (Germany)
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Isaak Markus Jost (1793-1860) 1815-1860 AR 4294
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Joern Esch
- Date
- © 2012
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from IsaakMarkusJost.xml
Revision Statements
- September 12, 2014 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository