Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Cornell Aquires Leopold Zunz Collection

The Cornell University Library has acquired a collection of works by the 19th-century German-Jewish scholar Leopold Zunz for its Rare and Manuscript Collections, according to a recent press release.

More than 100 works by Zunz, in German and English translation, were donated by Rabbi Steven M. Glazer, a longtime Zunz scholar and enthusiast. In addition to books the collection also includes handwritten notes, works by contemporaries of Zunz, and artworks depicting Zunz such as a lithographic print and “a whimsical bust.”

Zunz (1794-1886) was a founder of the discipline known as “Wissenschaft des Judentums,” the scholarly study of Judaism and the Jewish people. In 1819 he established the The Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews in Berlin, along with the poet Heinrich Heine and others.

According to the Cornell press release, Glazer, a rabbi at Congregation Beth Emeth in Herndon, Va. and a professor at George Washington University, has spent decades researching Zunz and displays a “Zunz” license plate on his car, which he calls the “Zunzmobile.”

Watch Steven M. Glazer talk about Leopold Zunz:

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.