WOGUE, LAZARE ELIEZER:

By: Isidore Singer, Jacques Kahn

French rabbi; born at Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, July 22, 1817; died at Paris April 14, 1897; educated at the Lycée Charlemagne at Paris, and at the Collège Royal and the Ecole Centrale Rabbinique at Metz. Receiving his rabbinical diploma in 1843, he returned to Paris, and became assistant preacher under Marchand Ennery, chief rabbi of Paris. Eight years later Salomon Munk and Adolphe Franck established a chair of Jewish theology at the Ecole Centrale Rabbinique at Metz, to which Wogue was appointed, remaining in this position until his retirement, with the title of professor emeritus, in 1894. Upon the transfer of the college from Metz to Paris (1859) as the Séminaire Israélite de France, his duties were extended to embrace instruction in Hebrew grammar, Biblical exegesis, and German. From 1879 to 1895 he was the director and editor-in-chief of the "Univers Israélite," being at the same time a member of the Imperial Academy of Metz, and of the Society of Archeology and History of the Moselle. On Jan. 11, 1885, he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

Wogue, who was a prolific writer, is best known for his translation of the Pentateuch, with notes which include the chief rabbinical interpretations, and for his history of Bible exegesis. His works are as follows: "Sermon sur la Tolérance" (Metz, 1841); "Le Rabbinat Français au Dix-Neuvième Siècle" (Paris, 1843); "L'Avenir dans le Judaïsme" (ib. 1844); "Shomer Emunim, Le Guide du Croyant Israélite" (Metz, 1857; 2d ed., with a preface by Zadoc Kahn, Paris, 1898), a collection of prayers, hymns, and meditations in prose and verse; "Le Pentateuque" (Paris, 1860-69), a new translation, with Hebrew text and notes, and a version of the Hafṭarot; "L'Anthropomorphisme et les Miracles Selon le Judaïsme" (ib. 1867); a translation of the "Ḳol Ḳore" of Elijah Soloweyczyk (2 parts, ib. 1870-75), a harmony of the Bible, the Talmud, and the Gospels; a translation of Schleiden's "Bedeutung der Juden für Erhaltung und Wiederbelebung der Wissenschaften im Mittelalter" (ib. 1877); a revised and annotated edition of the "Sefer Sekiyyot ha-Ḥemdah" by D. Cahen (Mayence, 1877); a translation of Gabriel b. Joshua's "Petaḥ Teshubah," which appeared originally at Amsterdam in 1651 (Paris, 1879); a revised edition of letters A-C of Léon Hollaenderski's "Dictionnaire Universel Français-Hébreu" (ib. 1879); "Histoire de la Bible et de l'Exégèse Biblique Jusqu'à Nos Jours" (ib. 1881); a translation of the first two volumes of Grätz's "Geschichte der Juden" (ib. 1882-84); "Esquisse d'une Théologie Juive" (ib. 1887); and "La Prédication Israélite en France" (ib. 1890). In addition to these works, Wogue translated and annotated Lipmann Sofer's "Gan Raweh," and revised the "Semaine Israélite" of Baruch Créhange, the "Sentier d'Israël" and the "Rituel des Priéres" of Elcan Durlacher (10 vols., with Hebrew text and French translation), and Ullmann's "Catéchisme."

S. J. Ka.