The Jabnean Academy: Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s Proposal to Found a Modern Academy of the Jewish People

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present and to analyze Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s idea of the necessity of founding a modern Academy of the Jewish people in Jerusalem and his proposal and project for its foundation. When and why did Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower get this idea? What should be the function and purpose of the academy? What should its fields of research be, and who should belong to it? Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower, a “cultural Zionist”, proposed the idea of the foundation of a modern Academy of the Jewish people, which he called “the Jabnean Academy” or an Academy of “Pan-Judaism” in an article published in a journal in 1899. He enlarged his proposal in several other articles in various journals and booklets, published in German, Hebrew and Romanian, between 1902-1919. Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s proposal was aimed at leaders of the Zionist Movement, Jewish intellectuals and wealthy Jews who could support the project. His proposal did not win much support as it was probably ahead of its times. However, Rabbi Dr. Jacob Isaac Niemirower’s proposal was kept alive by some Jewish leaders from Romania, one of them being Moritz Schweig, who in 1932 was proud that the idea of founding a modern Jewish Academy in Palestine was that of a Romanian Jew.