Onderwijzer, Abraham ben Samson Ha-Kohen

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ONDERWIJZER, ABRAHAM BEN SAMSON HA-KOHEN

ONDERWIJZER, ABRAHAM BEN SAMSON HA-KOHEN (1862–1934), Dutch rabbi. Born in Muiden, near Amsterdam, Onderwijzer studied at the rabbinical seminary of Amsterdam under Rabbi J. *Duenner. In 1888 he was appointed rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam and in 1917, chief rabbi of the town and of the province of North Holland. Onderwijzer translated the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary into Dutch and added his own explanations (1895–1901). In 1895 he founded Bezalel, an organization of Jewish workers, for the amelioration of the religious and economic conditions of the Jewish workers in Amsterdam, most of whom worked in the diamond industry. Bezalel acted in conjunction with the general diamond workers' trade union (a.n.d.b.b.) in Holland.

bibliography:

Orde van den Dienst ter Gelegenheid van de plechtige Bevestiging… A.S. Onderwijzer (1917), S. Seeligmann, Opperabbijn A.S. Onderwijzer (1935).

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

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