HAINDORF, ALEXANDER

HAINDORF, ALEXANDER (Zwi Hirsch ben Nessannel; 1784–1862), German educator and physician. In 1825 he founded at Muenster, Westphalia, an institution for the advancement of crafts among Jews and the training of teachers for Jewish elementary schools. An endowment by Haindorf's father-in-law enabled the school to train about 350 artisans in 50 years. The school had such an excellent reputation that the Prussian government permitted Christian pupils to attend it; in 1830 they outnumbered the Jews. One of Haindorf's aims was to promote the amalgamation of Judaism and Christianity, and in "slow and cautious imparting of Christian education" he saw a step in this direction. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinberg, in: JZWL, 2 (1863), 1–11; M. Eliav, Ha-Ḥinnukh ha-Yehudi be-Germanyah (1960), 285, 295–6, 310. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Freund, "Alexander Haindorf – Grenzgaenge zwischen juedischer und christlicher Kultur," in: F. Siegert (ed.), Grenzgänge – Festschrift fuer Diethard Aschhoff (2002), 175–93; Biographisches-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, 20 (2000), 693–706. (Meir Lamed)