SCHEID, ELIE

SCHEID, ELIE (1841–1922), Jewish historian and administrator. Born in Haguenau, Alsace, he received a traditional Jewish education and studied for the rabbinate. Scheid, who contributed to the Franco-Jewish press, wrote several historical studies which were collected in his book Histoire des Juifs d'Alsace (1887). In 1883 baron edmond de rothschild invited him to Paris to organize the city's Ḥevrat ha-Ẓedakah ("Charitable Society") and at the end of that year he was appointed inspector of the Baron's settlement project in Ereẓ Israel, a post he held until the end of 1899. He dealt with all settlement matters and conducted political negotiations on behalf of the Baron with the Turkish authorities in Constantinople. Scheid disapproved of Herzl's diplomatic activities, regarding them as dangerous to settlement in Ereẓ Israel. On the other hand, he did not succeed in finding a common language with the settlers. They regarded him as far removed from their aspirations and identified him, perhaps more than he deserved, with the negative aspects of the paternalistic regime introduced by   the Baron in the settlements and with the corruption which existed among the Baron's officials. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: JE, S.V.; Tidhar, 1 (1947), 206–7; I. Klausner, Mi-Kattowitz ad Basel, 2 (1965), index; T. Herzl, Complete Diaries, ed. by R. Patai, 5 (1960), index. (Yehuda Slutsky)