| 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv. Quite a few stories are being published on the net and in the Israeli press about the history of this city including articles about the founder of the Tel Aviv Zoo: Rav Dr. Mordechai "Max" Schornstein (1869-1949) 2009 is also the 60th year since his death 25 Tishrei 5710 (18 October 1949) What (most of) the media dosen't know is that he among many other things was one of our patriarchs being the father of Meta as in Meta & Marcus Melchior..... |
| Thank you Jair for finding and sharing this article |
Israel is full of colourful personalities, and one
whose " hobby " was to become an asset to Tel Aviv,
has recently died—Rabbi Dr. Max Schornstein.
His life in the last decades was devoted to one task:
to teach the youth of Israel love and understanding
for animals. Only in Israel could a theologist be a
founder of a Zoo. To-day, at the entrance of Tel
Aviv's Zoologii:al Gardens, there is a plate bearing
the name of Dr. Max Schornstein.
He was a pupil of the Rabbinical Seminary and
University of Erlangen in Germany, where he was
made a Doctor of Philosophy, and his first office as
Rabbi was in Copenhagen. From there he came to
Dresden. Immediately after Hitler's accession to
power, he left Germany' for Eretz Israel. There was
no support, or even encouragement, for his " hobby "
when he started in a small shop in Shankin Street in
Tel Aviv a small exhibition of animals, and even in
the years 1936-1937, next to the fashionable Gat
Rimon Hotel, one could see huts and cages full of
exotic animals, which were the private property of
Dr. Schornstein.
He was untiring in travelling to neighbouring
countries and to contact Zoological Societies abroad,
and as the years went by, his collection grew, and
neighbours complained about the roaring of lions at
the most unlikely times. It was then that he
donated his animal park to the Municipality of Tel
Aviv.
Among Tel Aviv's school children, he was called
Dr. Doolittle, and he never let an opportunity pass
to show the children around and to tell them about
the animals. What he did not tell them was that he
himself had, for a long time, to starve so that his
animals could be fed.
whose " hobby " was to become an asset to Tel Aviv,
has recently died—Rabbi Dr. Max Schornstein.
His life in the last decades was devoted to one task:
to teach the youth of Israel love and understanding
for animals. Only in Israel could a theologist be a
founder of a Zoo. To-day, at the entrance of Tel
Aviv's Zoologii:al Gardens, there is a plate bearing
the name of Dr. Max Schornstein.
He was a pupil of the Rabbinical Seminary and
University of Erlangen in Germany, where he was
made a Doctor of Philosophy, and his first office as
Rabbi was in Copenhagen. From there he came to
Dresden. Immediately after Hitler's accession to
power, he left Germany' for Eretz Israel. There was
no support, or even encouragement, for his " hobby "
when he started in a small shop in Shankin Street in
Tel Aviv a small exhibition of animals, and even in
the years 1936-1937, next to the fashionable Gat
Rimon Hotel, one could see huts and cages full of
exotic animals, which were the private property of
Dr. Schornstein.
He was untiring in travelling to neighbouring
countries and to contact Zoological Societies abroad,
and as the years went by, his collection grew, and
neighbours complained about the roaring of lions at
the most unlikely times. It was then that he
donated his animal park to the Municipality of Tel
Aviv.
Among Tel Aviv's school children, he was called
Dr. Doolittle, and he never let an opportunity pass
to show the children around and to tell them about
the animals. What he did not tell them was that he
himself had, for a long time, to starve so that his
animals could be fed.
2011 UPDATE