David Cassel
David Cassel, from the 1901-1906Jewish Encyclopedia, now in the public domain.
Born	(1818-03-07)7 March 1818 Gross-Glogau,Silesia,Prussia
Died	22 January 1893(1893-01-22) (aged 74) Berlin,Prussia,Germany
Nationality	German

David Cassel (7 March 1818 – 22 January 1893) was a Germanhistorian andJewish theologian.

Cassel was born inGross-Glogau, a city inPrussian Silesia with a large Jewish community. He graduated from itsgymnasium. His brother wasSelig Cassel.

Cassel's name is intimately connected with the founders ofJewish science inGermany—Zunz,Geiger,Steinschneider,Frankel, and others. In appreciating his great scholarship inJewish literature it must not be forgotten that he was born in a city in which Jewish learning had been maintained at a very high standard, and which has given to the world many noted scholars:Salomon Munk,Joseph Zedner,Michael Sachs,Heymann Arnheim, and others.

Cassel became a student at theBerlin University, where he attended the lectures of the orientalistJulius Heinrich Petermann, the philosopherFriedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, the philologistPhilipp August Boeckh, and others. He, besides, maintained very friendly relations withMoritz Steinschneider,Heimann Jolowicz,Leser Landshuth, andPaul de Lagarde. During the whole time of his university studies he supported himself by giving lessons; and having thus experienced all the bitterness of poverty, he became later one of the founders of theHülfs-Verein für Jüdische Studierende, a society for assisting poor Jewish students inBerlin, which is still in existence.

Cassel began his career as an author with his doctor's thesis on "Die Psalmenüberschriften" (published in the "Literaturblatt des Orients,"Leipzig, 1840). He received hisrabbinical diploma in 1843 fromJacob Joseph Oettinger andZecharias Frankel, but never accepted, a rabbinical position, although he possessed a decided talent for thepulpit, as may be seen from his "Sabbath-Stunden zur Belehrung und Erbauung" (Berlin, 1868), a collection of 52 homilies on thePentateuch, originally delivered asSabbath lectures in a school for boys. In 1846 Cassel became principal of an educational institute called the "Dina-Nauen-Stift," in which position he remained until 1879. He was, besides, in 1850 and 1851 teacher of religion in Berlin at the Congregational School for Jewish Girls, and from 1852 to 1867 at the Jewish school for boys. From 1862 to 1873 he was also a teacher at the Jewish Normal School. In 1872, when theLehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums ("Hochschule") was established in Berlin, Cassel was elected one of the docents. He died in Berlin.

Cassel wrote a great number of valuable books, besides many essays for the Jewish magazines. Some of his works were written mainly for educational purposes; e.g., the above-mentioned "Sabbath-Stunden" and the following:

• "Leitfaden für den Unterricht in der Jüdischen Gesch. und Litteratur," Berlin, 1868 (translated into various languages);
• "Gesch. der Jüdischen Litteratur," 2 vols., Berlin, 1872–73, dealing only with Biblical literature;
• "Hebräisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch," etc., Berlin, 1871, last ed., 1891;
• "Lehrbuch der Jüdischen Gesch. und Litteratur," Leipzig, 1879; 2d ed., Berlin, 1896.

In addition to these he edited, or contributed introductions and notes to, several scientific works of great value, of which the following may be mentioned:

• "Cat. Hebräischer Schriften," Latin part by himself, and Hebrew by Rebenstein (Bernstein), Berlin, 1845;
• David Conforte's "Ḳore ha-Dorot," a biographical and bibliographical lexicon of Jewish scholars with introduction and notes, Berlin, 1846;
• "Zikron Yehudah," responsa ofJudah ben Asher, published by Rosenberg, with introduction and notes by Cassel, Berlin, 1846;
• "Teshubot Geonim Ḳadmonim," responsa of the earlier Geonim, edited from a Berlin manuscript, with an introduction byJ. L. Rapoport, in "He-Ḥaluẓ," Berlin, 1848, viii.138;
• the "Yesod 'Olam" ofIsaac Israeli, an astronomical work edited byB. Goldberg andL. Rosenkranz, with an introduction and a German translation by Cassel, Berlin, 1848; published by Rosenberg with notes and references by Cassel, Berlin, 1856;
• Index toDe Rossi's "Dizionario Storico," Leipzig, 1846;
• the "Cuzari" ofJudah ha-Levi, with a German introduction and translation and very numerous explanatory and critical notes, which fully testify to Cassel's erudition in Jewish-Arabic philosophy, Leipzig, 1840–53, Berlin, 1869 (in this work Cassel was assisted to some extent by H. Jolowicz);
• "Meor 'Enayim" ofAzariah dei Rossi—a classical edition, Vilna, 1866;
• theApocrypha, translated into German from the Greek, Berlin, 1864–71;
• "DiePesach-Haggadah", with German introduction, translation, and critical notes (latest edition, Berlin, 1895);
• "Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache" ofH. Arnheim (died 1870), with introduction, notes, and additions by Cassel, Berlin, 1872.

Cassel further wrote pamphlets on questions of the day, such as:"Woher und Wohin? Zur Verständigung über Jüdische Reformbestrebungen," Berlin, 1845;

• "Die Cultusfrage in der Jüdischen Gemeinde von Berlin," Berlin, 1856, a defense of his friend Michael Sachs against the attacks by the Orthodox;
• "Offener Brief eines Juden anProf. Dr. Virchow," Berlin, 1869;
• "Joseph Caro und das BuchMaggid Mesharim," published in the "Jahresbericht" of theBerlin Hochschule, Berlin, 1888, in which he proves, againstGrätz, that this book was not written by Caro.

Cassel is also the author of all the articles dealing withJudaism andJewish literature inBrockhaus' "Konversations-Lexikon". He also wrote articles for the publications of theSociety of Hebrew Literature of London.

Finally, it must be mentioned that Cassel, while still a young man, conceived the plan of publishing a Jewishencyclopedia containing everything of interest to Judaism. With the assistance ofM. Steinschneider he composed the "Plan der Real-Encyclopädie des Judenthums,"Krotoschin, 1844; but, inasmuch asJewish studies were still in their infancy, the plan, though pursued for some time, could not be carried out.

• Literature by and about David Cassel in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica
• For the great number of articles written by Cassel for Jewish and Christian magazines and encyclopedias (e.g., theAllgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste ofErsch andGruber) seeMoïse Schwab,Répertoire des Articles d'Histoire et de Littérature Juive, Paris, 1900, s.v. Cassel;
• S. Hochfeld, David Cassel,Gedenk-Rede auf Seinen Heimgang, Berlin, 1894;
• and especiallyH. Brody's pamphlet,Toledot David Cassel, Cracow, 1893.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore;Malter, Henry (1902)."Cassel, David". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 602–603.

• 1818 births
• 1893 deaths
• 19th-century German theologians
• 19th-century German philosophers
• 19th-century German historians
• Philosophers of Judaism
• German Jewish theologians
• Jewish philosophers
• Jewish historians
• Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
• Silesian Jews
• People from the Province of Silesia
• People from Głogów
• German male non-fiction writers
• 19th-century German male writers

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