JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

gary, settling in Paris. An expert on Eastern European politics,
Fejtö was a prominent socialist and an independent thinker.
Both in his political writings and in his fiction he was preoccupied
with the Jewish question, particularly the relationship
of Jews and Communists. His works include Érzelmes utazás
(“Sentimental Journey,” 1937), Chine–URSS, la fin d’une hégémonie
(1964), Henri Heine (1946), and Le printemps des peuples
dans les pays communistes (1960).
Bibliography: Magyar Irodalmi Lexikon, 1 (1963), 341.
[Baruch Yaron]
FEKETE, MICHAEL (1886–1957), Israel mathematician.
Born at Zenta, Hungary, Fekete was associated with the Hungarian
School of Mathematics and was assistant at Budapest
University from 1912 to 1919. In 1928 he accepted a position
as lecturer at the Institute of Mathematics in the Hebrew University,
Jerusalem, becoming professor in the following year.
From 1946 to 1948 he was rector of the university. A dedicated
teacher, he laid the foundations of mathematical studies and
research there, and played an important part in the development
of his department.
Fekete’s many and varied contributions included the theory
of numbers, algebraic equations, and above all the theory
of functions. He considered his greatest achievement to have
been the discovery of the transfinite diameter, which won him
the Israel Prize for the exact sciences in 1955.
Bibliography: J.C. Poggendorf, Biographisch-literarisches
Handwoerterbuch, 2 (1937), S.V. (incls. list of his works).
[David Maisel]
FELD, ISAAC (1862–1922), poet who wrote in German. Born
in Lvov, Feld studied and practiced law, in addition to teaching
throughout his life. One of the members of Ḥovevei Zion
in Galicia, his Dort wo die Zeder was a very popular Zionist
song. It first appeared in the journal Selbstemanzipation in the
early 1880s, and was later included in many German, Yiddish,
and Hebrew anthologies of Jewish songs. It was published with
music in the Blauweiss Liederbuch (1914).
Add. Bibliography: N.M. Gelber, Toledot ha-Tenu’ah ha-
Ẓiyyonit be-Galicia, index.
[Getzel Kressel]
FELD, JACOB (1899–1975), U.S. civil engineer. Born in Austria,
Feld was taken to the U.S. in 1906. He was a graduate of
City College, N.Y., and got his Ph.D. from the University of
Cincinnati. His engineering designs and constructions include
the New York Coliseum, Guggenheim Museum, Yonkers
Raceway, Sixth Avenue Subway of N.Y.C., airfields, and
a naval training station. He was a special consultant to the
U.S. Air Force and in 1959 became chairman of the engineering
division, New York Academy of Science and later became
president of the academy and a fellow of the American Society
of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which cited him in 1969 as
Metropolitan Engineer of the Year. Feld was active in Jewish
community affairs.
Felder, Gedalia
FELDBERG, LEON (1910– ), South African newspaper publisher
and editor. Son of the rabbi of Krok, Lithuania, he went
to yeshivot in Ponevezh and Slobodka, and received a rabbinical
diploma. He started his journalistic career in Riga, working
for Yiddish newspapers. In 1929, he emigrated to South
Africa and, after serving as a minister and teacher, went into
business. In 1936 he established the weekly South African Jewish
Times, which he edited until 1969. He also set up a printing
and publishing plant and issued the South African Jewish Year
Book (1960, 1961) and South African Jewry (1965, 1967).
[Lewis Sowden]
FELDER, GEDALIA (1921/2–1991), Canadian rabbi and
halakhic authority. Felder was born in Iczuki-dolne in Galicia
and studied in the local yeshivah and with other rabbis
in Poland, including Yeshivat Keter Torah Radomsk in Cracow.
His father, Hersch, immigrated to Canada in 1930, living
briefly in Winnipeg and then in Montreal before bringing
his family to Canada in 1937. Felder continued his studies in
Montreal and then in Toronto under Rabbi Abraham Price
at his Yeshivat Torat Chaim. Felder received his ordination
from Price in 1940.
Between 1940 and 1949 Felder served as rabbi for several
small Jewish communities in southern Ontario: Sarnia
(1941–43), Belleville (1943–45), and Brantford (1945–49). One
of his students in the last town spoke of the menschlichkeit of
Felder and the warm reception students received in his household.
Between 1943 and 1945 Felder was a part-time chaplain
with the Royal Canadian Air Force for Trenton and District.
In 1949 Felder moved to Toronto, where he remained for the
rest of his life. Upon his arrival, Felder assumed the pulpit of
Shomrei Shabbos, a synagogue founded by Galician Jews in
the late 19th century. He taught at Price’s Yeshivat Torat Chaim
and was a staunch supporter of the Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah,
the school established by Polish Jews several decades earlier.
In Toronto, he also served for years as the chairman of the
Va’ad ha-Kashrut of the Central Region (i.e., Ontario) of the
Canadian Jewish Congress, and was a supporter of the Mizrachi
organization. Felder did not cut himself off from non-Orthodox
Jews, participating in the Toronto Rabbinical Fellowship,
which brought together for discussion rabbis of various
denominations, including, among others, Walter Wurzberger
(Orthodox), Stuart *Rosenberg (Conservative), and Gunther
*Plaut (Reform).
Felder achieved an international reputation on the basis
of his halakhic works: the Yesodei Yeshurun (6 vols., 1954–70),
which deals with laws regarding the liturgy, the Sabbath, and
Passover; the two-volume Naḥalat Ẓevi (1952–72) in which he
grapples with the thorny issues of adoption, proselytes, and
divorce; some of his early responsa are collected in She’elot
u-Teshuvot She’elat Yeshurun (1964); and in 1977 Felder published
an edition of Sefer Tanya Rabbati, a work attributed to
Jehiel ben Jekuthiel ha-Rofe Anav of 13th century Italy. Felder
also published in a host of journals devoted to halakhic issues.
In recognition of Felder’s erudition, he was appointed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 745