Abraham Bing

Rabbi Abraham Bing was born in Frankfurt in 1752, and received his rabbinic training from Nathan Adler. From 1769 to 1778, he served as "Klaus" rabbi (rabbi of a small synagogue) in the town of Offenbach. Between 1778-1796 he served as "dayan" (rabbinical judge) in Frankfurt, and from 1796 to 1814 he served as rabbi of the town in Heidingsfeld, near Würzburg (Bavaria). In 1813 he was able to overturn previous a 250-year old decree banning Jews from settling in Würzburg proper, and in 1814 he assumed the rabbinate of the city, where he also served as the head of a large "yeshiva" (rabbinic seminary).

He was an opponent of the Reform movement. Several of his pupils played a major role in nineteenth century Orthodoxy in Germany:
* Jacob Ettlinger (editor of "Der Treue Zionswachter", teacher of Samson Raphael Hirsch and Azriel Hildesheimer and author of "Aruch la-Ner")
* Nathan Marcus Adler (chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and author of "Netinah la-Ger")
* Isaac Bernays (rabbi in Hamburg and teacher of S.R. Hirsch and Hildesheimer)
* Seligman Baer Bamberger (rabbi of Würzburg, founder of the Würzburg teachers' seminary)
* Abraham Joseph Rice (rabbi in Baltimore, Maryland)

Rabbi Abraham Bing died in Würzberg in 1841, having resigned from the rabbinate two years earlier. Of his writings, only "Zichron Avraham" (Remembrance of Abraham) was printed (posthumously, edited by Bamberger).

External links

* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1074&letter=B 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia entry]