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Leopold Treitel was born and grew up in Beslau. He began to learn Hebrew language at a very young age. He attended Elisabet-Gymnasium in Breslau. His father had wanted him to join his commercial enterprise. However, due to Leopold Treitel's affinity and aptitude for learning, the headmaster of his school advised his father to let Leopold Treitel remain at school after the Mittlere Reife (GCSE) since he thought that Leopold Treitel would be more suited to become a Scholarly method rather than a businessman. Hertha Nathorff Collection, 1813–1967, "Gedenk-Blätter für Rabbiner Dr. Leopold Treitel", p. 3 After taking his Abitur (GCE Advanced Level), he enrolled at the University of Breslau to study Classical Philology, Philosophy and HistoryR. Emmerich, " Philo und die Synagoge - Dr. Leopold Treitel, der letzte Rabbiner von Laupheim ", p. 13 whilst also attending the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau. Hertha Nathorff Collection, 1813–1967, "Gedenk-Blätter für Rabbiner Dr. Leopold Treitel", p. 3 At the university and the seminary he studied under scholars such as Zacharias Frankel, one of the ideological fathers of present-day Conservative Judaism, Marcus Brann and Heinrich Graetz, the latter eventually supervising Treitel's PhD thesis on the language of Philo.R. Emmerich, "Die Rabbiner-Familie Treitel", p. 521 Treitel obtained his PhD from the University of Breslau in December 1870, but continued his studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau where, in 1876, he was ordained as a rabbi.R. Emmerich, " Philo und die Synagoge - Dr. Leopold Treitel, der letzte Rabbiner von Laupheim ", p. 13 Following his ordination, Treitel worked as a rabbi in Koschmin in the Prussian province of Posen from 1878 until 1881J. Hahn, Erinnerungen und Zeugnisse jüdischer Geschichte in Baden-Württemberg, p. 590 when he moved to Briesen in the Prussian province of West Prussia to become rabbi there, a function he fulfilled until 1884." Treitel, Leopold, Dr." . In: Michael Brocke and Julius Carlebach (Eds.), Die Rabbiner im Deutschen Reich, 1871-1945. Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Vol. 2 (L-Z), entry 2623, p. 610-612; here, p. 610. In May 1882, he married Rebecca Brann from Schneidemühl, whose brother Marcus had also been a student at Breslau Jewish Theological Seminary. Together they had three children.R. Emmerich, "Die Rabbiner-Familie Treitel", p. 521 In 1884, he became deputy town rabbi ( 2. Stadtrabbiner) in Karlsruhe in the Grand Duchy of BadenN. Hüttenmeister, Der jüdische Friedhof Laupheim, p. 504 where he was also employed as teacher for religious education at state schools. He also functioned as director of the Jewish seminary for teacher training which was founded in 1886.R. Emmerich, "Rebecca Treitel in Laupheim - wohltätige Jüdin und Intellektuelle", p. 42f.
In 1895, Treitel moved to Laupheim to assume the office of District Rabbi in the small town whose Jewish population at that time was about 500 strong,G. Schenk, "Die Juden in Laupheim", p. 215, 239, 292 having been the largest Jewish community in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the middle of the 19th century.P. Sauer, Die jüdischen Gemeinden in Württemberg und Hohenzollern, p. 118 He was rabbi in Laupheim until retirement in 1922.G. Schenk (a), "Die Juden in Laupheim", p. 113f; W. Kohl, Die Geschichte der Judengemeinde in Laupheim, p. 52; R. Emmerich, "Philo und die Synagoge", p. 13; A. Köhlerschmidt & K. Neildinger (Hrsg.), Die jüdische Gemeinde Laupheim und ihre Zerstörung, p. 524; H. Säbel, "Hundert Jahre Synagoge Laupheim", p. 3, in: Hertha Nathorff Collection, 1813–1967. Schenk dates Treitel's rabbinate from 1895 to 1925 whereas Kohl says that with the retirement of Treitel on 1 April 1923, the office of rabbi in Laupheim ceased to exist. This is confirmed by Emmerich who indicates that Treitel was rabbi for more than 28 years and retired in the year of the publication of his monograph on Philo of Alexandria in 1923. However, during a speech held in 1937 the last teacher of the Laupheim Jewish school, Heinz Säbel, dated the end of Treitel's rabbinate to 1922. Furthermore, in an obituary dated 20 March 1931 published in the C.V.-Zeitung, the weekly newspaper of the Central-Vereins deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens, upon the death of Treitel the dates for his rabbinate are given as 1985 to 1922. No successor to Treitel as rabbi was appointed. As a consequence the office of district rabbi, established in 1832, ceased to exist on 1 April 1923. A. Hoffmann, Schnittmengen und Scheidelinien: Juden und Christen in Oberschwaben, p. 12 Leopold Treitel died on 4 March 1931 surrounded by his family, having suffered a stroke a few days earlier. He was interred at Laupheim Jewish Cemetery.R. Emmerich, "Philo und die Synagoge - Dr. Leopold Treitel, der letzte Rabbiner von Laupheim", p. 19 When his wife Rebecca died in 1936, she was buried alongside him, a first on the cemetery where men and women had usually been buried separately.R. Emmerich, "Die Rabbiner-Familie Treitel", p. 526R. Emmerich, " Philo und die Synagoge - Dr. Leopold Treitel, der letzte Rabbiner von Laupheim ", p. 19
Treitel not only wrote on philosophical subjects. He was also interested in educative youth literature, and wrote a novel, Rahab, die Seherin von Jericho (Rahab, the Seeress of Jericho), whose aim it was to make religion and religious topics more accessible to young adults.A. Völpel, Religion, German Jewish Children's and Youth Literature and Modernity, p. 119
During his time as District Rabbi in Laupheim, Leopold Treitel became involved in local Jewish history. He made an inventory of the Laupheim Jewish cemetery by deciphering the Epigraphy on the and compiled a list of all persons buried in the graveyard until 1916. The original of this list was confiscated by the Reich Ancestry Office ( Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung) after 1933, and put onto film between October 1944 and March 1945. The original list was consequently lost and presumed destroyed, but the film is now in the possession of the Baden-Württemberg Main State Archives in Stuttgart. A copy of this film was used by Nathanja Hüttenmeister for her documentation on the Laupheim Jewish cemetery.
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