Isaac Dembo

Isaac Dembo (Yiddish: יצחק בן אהרן דעמבאָ, Russian: Исаак Александрович Дембо) was a Russian-Jewish physician.

Isaac Dembo
Born	1846 (1846) Ponevezh, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	1906 (aged 59–60) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Education	University of Saint Petersburg
Occupation	Physician

Biography

Dembo was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Ponevezh, Kovno Governorate.^[1] He studied Hebrew and rabbinical literature under the direction of Shmuel Salant and other Talmudic authorities until the age of fourteen, when he devoted himself to secular studies, and in 1870 graduated as M.D. from the University of Saint Petersburg. He served as physician in several hospitals, and in 1877, on the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, enlisted in the medical department of the army.^[2] He was awarded a medal for his services. In 1881–82 he traveled in Germany and France, and on his return to Saint Petersburg was appointed physician to the Alexandrowski Hospital. In 1888 the government bestowed upon him the title of 'privy councillor.'

Dembo turned his attention to the scientific study of sheḥita, the slaughtering of animals according to Jewish law.^[3] In Switzerland and in Germany attempts had been made to secure the prohibition of kosher butchering, on the plea that it caused the animals unnecessary pain. After investigating the matter and studying the methods of slaughtering in Russia and abroad, Dembo arrived at the conclusion that sheḥita caused less pain than other methods.^[4] The German Society for Public Health and French Academy of Medicine apparently agreed with his conclusions, and the Prussian Military Office, which produced canned meat, introduced a new method of slaughter in response to Dembo's reports.^[1]

He published two works on this subject; namely, Anatomisch-physiologische Grundlagen der verschiedenen Methoden des Viehschlachtens (1894) and Das Schächten im Vergleich mit anderen Schlachtmethoden (1894). The latter work was prefaced by endorsements from Rudolf Virchow and William Preyer, and translated into French,^[5] English,^[6] and Hebrew.^[7]

Partial bibliography

• Dembo, Isaac (1883). K voprosu o nezavisimosti sokrashenii matki ot cerebro-spinaluoi nervnoi sistemy [Contraction of uterus independent of cerebro-spinal nervous system] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Tipografia M. I. Rumsha.
• — (1894). Anatomisch-physiologische Grundlagen der verschiedenen Methoden des Viehschlachtens. Vortrage gehalten in der Petersburger Medizinischen Gesellschaft am 1. und 15. Dezember 1893 (in German). Leipzig: H. Rokoschny.
• — (1894). Das Schächten im Vergleich mit anderen Schlachtmethoden. Vom Standpunkte der Humanität und Hygiene beleuchtet (in German). Leipzig: H. Roskoschny.
• — (1894). "Über den physiologischen Werth der verschiedenen Schlachtmethoden". Verhandlungen der Physiologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin. Vortrag Gehalten an der 6. Sitzung der Physiologischen Gesellschaft Am 26. Januar 1894 (in German).
• — (1894). La protection des animaux dans l'antiquité et au XIXe siècle (in French). Berne: Imprimerie Stempfli & Cie.

References

  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Broydé, Isaac (1903). "Dembo, Isaac". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 512.

1. Katznelson, J. L.; Ginzburg, Baron D., eds. (1910). "Дембо, Исаак Александрович"  [Dembo, Isaak Aleksandrovich]. Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron (in Russian). Vol. 7. St. Petersburg: Brockhaus & Efron. pp. 69–71.
2. Branover, Herman; Berlin, Isaiah; Wagner, Zeev (1998). The Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry. Vol. 1. Jason Aronson. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-7657-9981-4.
3. Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred, eds. (2007). "Dembo, Isaac". Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
4. Judd, Robin (2011). Contested Rituals: Circumcision, Kosher Butchering, and Jewish Political Life in Germany, 1843–1933. Cornell University Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-8014-6164-4.
5. Dembo, J.-A. (1894). L'abatage des animaux de boucherie. Étude comparée des diverses méthodes (in French). Paris: Félix Alcan.
6. Dembo, J. A. (1894). The Jewish Method of Slaughter: Compared with Other Methods from the Humanitarian, Hygienic, and Economic Points of View. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.
7. Dembo, Yitzḥak ben Aharon (1896). Ha-sheḥitah veha-bedikah: tsorarehen u-maginehen (in Hebrew). Vol. 1. Warsaw: Defus Aleksander Gins.