Kley, Edward

Kley, Edward a Jewish preacher and educator of note, born June 10, 1789, at Bernstadt, in Silesia, was prominently connected with the reformatory movements in the synagogue at the opening of the 19th century. He was a teacher and preacher at Berlin when, in 1818, the Progressive Jews of Hamburg called him to the superintendency of their schools, and later to the duties of a pastorate. Kley was the first Jew who preached in a temple (the name for the houses of worship of Reformed Jews), and who used a German liturgy and introduced an organ. May 9, 1840, he resigned his pastoral office, but the superintendence of the Jewish schools he held until 1848, when his advanced age obliged him to forego all active labors. His admirers presented him with a large fund for his support, but he declined to use it for himself, and founded the " Eduard Kley Stiftung" for the support and assistance of old teachers not sufficiently provided for by the state. He died Oct. 4, 1867. His sermons, which are generally acknowledged to be of superior order, were published at Hamburg in 1826-27, 1844, 8vo. He also published two volumes of homilies: Predigt Skizzen, or Beitrdye zu einer kuinftiyen Homiletik (Leipz. 1856, 2 vols. 8vo), and Die deutsche Synagogue oder Ordnung des Gottesdienstes (Berlin, 1817-18, 2 vols.

8vo) : — " עדות יי, Katechismus d. Mosaischen Religionslehre (Berl. 1814; 3d ed. Leipz 1839 and 1850). Kley is often and justly called the Schleiermacher of the Jewish pulpit of Germany in our age. See Jost, Gesch. d. Judenthums -. s. Sekten, 3:336; Kayserling (Dr. M.), Bibliothek Jid. Kanzelredner (Berl. 1870, 8vo), i, 47 sq.; Illustrirtes Monatsheft jf d. gesramten Int. d. Judenthums, ii, 419 sq.; Jonas, Lebensskizze v. Imerrn Dr. E. Kley (Hamburg, 1859, 12mo); Fiirst, Bib. Jud. s.v. (J. H. W.)