WELLESZ, JULIUS

WELLESZ, JULIUS (1872–1915), Hungarian rabbi and scholar. Wellesz, born in Budapest, was ordained at the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary in 1890 and received a Ph.D. at Budapest University (1895) for a thesis on Abraham de Balmes as a philologist, Abrahám de Balmes mint nyelvész. An eminent preacher, Wellesz served as rabbi in several Hungarian cities, including Csurgo, Nagybittse, and Obuda. Some of his speeches were published separately, and others in the Hungarian Jewish homiletical review, Magyar Zsinagóga. He also devoted himself to philological research and contributed various studies on the Hebrew Bible, Midrashim, and Jewish folklore, but his main interest was in researching Franco-German responsa literature of the 11th–13th centuries. Among his writings are Isaak b. Moses Or Zaru'a (in MGWJ, 48 (1904); Ueber R. Isaak b. Moses Or Sarua (in JJLG, 4 (1906); Ḥayyim b. Isaac Or Zaru'a (in REJ, 53–59 (1907); and Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg (in REJ (1909–11), 2 parts). His excellent monograph on Rashi, Rasi Elete és mv˝ködése (Hung., 1906) was acclaimed by Jewish scholars and attracted attention abroad. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Weisz, in: Magyar Zsidó Szemle, 32 (1915): I. Schmelczer, in: Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, 8 (1966), 10–16. (Imre Schmelczer)