DUSCHAK, MORITZ:

By: Isidore Singer, Peter Wiernik

Austrian rabbi and author; born in Triesch, Moravia, Nov. 14, 1815; died in Vienna July 21, 1890. He was a pupil in Talmud of R. Moses Sofer of Presburg, and was for a long time rabbi at Gaya, Moravia. In 1877 he became preacher in Cracow and teacher of religion at the gymnasium of that city. He was a modern preacher and the author of works in the German language. Although engaged to deliver his sermons at the Temple, his sympathies were mostly with the old-style Orthodox people of the "Klaus," who could better appreciate his Talmudical knowledge. His position as preacher was thus somewhat anomalous; and after several years' service he left Cracow and settled in Vienna, where he spent his last days in neglect and disappointment.

Duschak wrote much for various periodicals, and was, besides, the author of the following works: "Mor Deror," on Josephus and tradition, Vienna, 1864; "Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Eherecht mit Besonderer Rücksicht auf die Bürgerlichen Gesetze," Vienna, 1864; "Gideon Brecher, eine Biographische Skizze," Prossnitz, 1865; "Gesch. und Darstellung des Jüdischen Cultus," Mannheim, 1866; "Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Strafrecht," Vienna, 1868; "Zur Botanik des Talmuds," Budapest, 1871; "Schulgesetzgebung und Methodik der Alten Israeliten," Vienna, 1872; "Die Biblisch-Talmudische Glaubenslehre," etc., ib. 1872; "Die Moral der Evangelien und des Talmuds," Brünn, 1878. He also wrote "Jerushalayim ha-Benuya," a commentary on the Mishnah, treatise Mo'ed, Cracow, 1880.

S. P. Wi.