Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Kohut, Alexander

KOHUT, Alexander, scholar, b. in Félegyháza, Hungary, 4 May, 1842; d. in New York city, 25 May, 1894. He attended the University of Leipzig, and was graduated with high honor at the age of twenty-two. He became a rabbi quickly, and in 1865 was chosen rabbi for Stuhlweissenburg. After eight years he went to Fünfkirchen, and again after a period of eight years to Grosswardein; thence in 1885 he came to New York city to succeed Rev. Dr. Adolph Hübsch in charge of Temple Ahawath Chesed. He was the most learned Talmudist in America, and he had also a wide European reputation for his knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Zend, and for his learning in Aryan and Semitic religions. The work by which he will be best known is his “Aruch completum,” a Talmudical dictionary based on that of R. Nathan ben Jechiel of the eleventh century; it was a life work, and he was in some measure rewarded by the praises bestowed upon it by Renan, Delitzsch, and other scholars. He wrote also many monographs and other articles on Semitic and kindred subjects; a bibliography by his son is given in the “Tributes to the Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, Published by Congregation Ahawath Chesed” (New York, 1894). See also “Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, Edited by George Alexander Kohut” (Berlin, 1897).