Baruch Jacob Placzek (1 October 1834 – 17 September 1922), also known by the pseudonym Benno Planek, was a rabbi, author, poet, Public speaking, and Natural history. He was the last Landesrabbiner of Moravia, which position he held from 1884 until his death. As a writer, he published numerous , speeches, and Obituary, as well as scientific, lyrical, and narrative works.
Biography
Early life and education
Baruch Jacob Placzek was born in Weisskirchen (now Hranice,
Czech Republic) to Anna () and
Abraham Placzek,
Landesrabbiner of Moravia. He was taught
Talmud by his father in
Boskovice, and educated at the gymnasia of
Mikulov and
Brno. He then attended the Universities of Vienna and Leipzig, where he completed a PhD under the supervision of Wilhelm Wachsmuth in November 1856, with a dissertation on the
cultural history of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
Career
Placzek afterwards taught at a
Jewish education in Frankfurt, and founded a in
Hamburg in 1858. In 1861 he became
Chief Rabbi of
Brno (Brno), a position he held for the next forty-four years. He meanwhile succeeded his father as Landesrabbiner of Moravia in 1884, in which role he was an adherent of moderate religious reform. He promoted the foundation of the seminary in
Vienna, for which he served as curator, and was a founder of a number of philanthropic societies.
In part under the pseudonym Benno Planek, he besides published the collections of poetry Im Eruw (1867) and Stimmungsbilder (1872), the novel Der Takif (1895), and other works, several of which were translated into English, French, and Hebrew language. As a Natural history, he gave natural science lectures at the Natural History Society of Brünn, and contributed to the journals and Popular Science. He was a close friend of Gregor Mendel, and corresponded with Charles Darwin, whose Darwinism he promoted. In one article, Placzek attempted to show that the in the Talmud put forward ideas akin to Darwinism.
Placzek received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig in 1907. He was a knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, and an honorary member of several political societies.
Death and legacy
Placzek died in 1922 at the age of 87, predeceased by his wife Caroline and son Oswald. He was survived by his children Sarah, Linda, Ida, Emma, Alfred, and Irma, at least two of whom died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto during the
Holocaust. Among his grandchildren were the physicist
George Placzek (1905–1955) and the architect and art historian (1913–2000). His nephew
Leo Baeck would go on to serve as President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
A bust of Placzek's likeness was unveiled in the entrance hall of the Brno Jewish Community Centre in 2012.
Selected publications
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Published in English as The Weasel and the Cat in Ancient Times (1887).
