GEIGER, ABRAHAM (1810-1874)

Abraham Geiger was born to an orthodox Jewish family in Frankfurt Germany in 1810. At age three, he began instruction on the Bible and then began his Talmudic studies at age 6. Rabbi Geiger is best known as the father of the Reform branch of Judaism. In 1832, the University of Bonn's philosophy faculty held a competition for scholars. Abraham Geiger, then 22 years old, submitted a paper (written in Latin) which outlined the Jewish foundations of Islam. He not only won the contest, his work was accepted by the University of Marburg as a thesis, and he was awarded a Doctorate. This thesis was published under the title "Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?" and later translated into English under the title Judaism and Islam which can be read on this site.

Rabbi Geiger served congregations in Wiesbaden, Breslau, Frankfurt, and Berlin. He also edited a Journal, continued to write scholarly works and taught until his death in 1874.

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