David Israel Taglicht

TAGLICHT, DAVID ISRAEL (1862–1943), Austrian rabbi and scholar. Born in Nagy Berzna (now Veliki Berezny, Ukraine), Taglicht attended yeshivot before going to Berlin, where he studied at the university and at the Orthodox rabbinical seminary. After a tenure (1889–93) in Ungarisch-Ostra (Uhersky-Ostroh), he received a post in Vienna; in 1910 he succeeded to Max *Grunwald's rabbinical office and was able to devote himself to historical studies, the most important of which were Nachlaesse der Wiener Juden im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (1917; continued in 1936), on the wills and testaments of Vienna's leading Jewish families (the *Arnsteins, *Eskeles, *Wertheims, *Oppenheimers, etc.). In 1932 he became rabbi of Vienna's main synagogue, the Leopoldstadt Tempel, and was noted for his oratorical talents and his stand above party struggles. After the Anschluss, Taglicht was forced to scrub the sidewalks and to carry a placard on which was written "I am a Jew." He was humiliated and beaten. He was allowed to leave as a result of foreign pressure and went to England, where he died at Cambridge.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.