Isidore Loeb

Isidore Loeb (November 1, 1839–June 3, 1892) was a French-Jewish scholar born at Soultzmatt, Haut-Rhin. The son of Rabbi Seligmann Loeb of Sulzmatt, he was educated in Bible and Talmud by his father. After having followed the usual course in the public school of his native town, Loeb studied at the college of Rouffach and at the lycée of Colmar, in which city he at the same time attended classes in Hebrew and Talmud at the preparatory rabbinical school founded by Chief Rabbi Solomon Klein. In 1856 he entered the Central Rabbinical School (École Centrale Rabbinique) at Metz, where he soon ranked high through his knowledge of Hebrew, his literary ability, and his proficiency in mathematics. In 1862 he was graduated, and received his rabbinical diploma from the Séminaire Israélite de France at Paris, which had replaced (1859) the Metz École Centrale Rabbinique.

Activities

Loeb did not immediately enter upon a rabbinical career, but tutored for some years, first at Bayonne, France and then at Paris. In 1865 he was called to the rabbinate of St. Etienne (Loire). His installation sermon, on the duties of the smaller congregations (Les Devoirs des Petites Communautés), is one of the best examples of French pulpit rhetoric.