Baruch Placzek

Baruch Jacob Placzek (1 October 1834 – 17 September 1922), also known by the pen name Benno Planek, was a Moravian rabbi, author, poet, orator, and naturalist. He was the last Landesrabbiner of Moravia, which position he held from 1884 until his death. As a writer, he published numerous sermons, speeches, and obituaries, as well as scientific, lyrical, and narrative works. Biography Early life and education Baruch Jacob Placzek was born in Weisskirchen (now Hranice, Czech Republic) to Anna and Abraham Placzek, Landesrabbiner of Moravia. He was taught Talmud by his father in Boskowitz, and educated at the gymnasia of Nikolsburg and Brünn. He then attended the Universities of Vienna and Leipzig, where he completed a PhD under the supervision of Wilhelm Wachsmuth in November 1856, with a dissertation on the cultural history of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Career Placzek afterwards taught at a Jewish school in Frankfurt, and founded a in Hamburg in 1858. In 1861 he became Chief Rabbi of Brünn (Brno), a position he held for the next forty-four years. He meanwhile succeeded his father as Landesrabbiner of Moravia in 1884, in which role he was an adherent of moderate religious reform. He promoted the foundation of the seminary in Vienna, for which he served as curator, and was a founder of a number of philanthropic societies.