Dr. med. Abraham Jakob Kisch

Physician, and one of the teachers of Moses Mendelssohn; born at Prague in the first half of the eighteenth century (1720?); died June 5, 1803. Compelled to leave Prague with his coreligionists in 1745, he went to Germany. During his sojourn at Breslau he founded a ḥebra ḳaddisha and a hospital, both of these being modeled after similar institutions at Prague. Thence he went to Berlin, where he completed his studies under the guidance of Aaron Gumperz; here he instructed Moses Mendelssohn in Latin. In 1749 he received from the University of Halle his degree of Ph.D., and in the same year that of M.D. for his dissertation, "Theoria et Therapia Phthiseos Pulmonalis."

The empress Maria Theresa having in the meantime permitted the Jews to return to Prague, Kisch was elected physician of the community and director of the Meisel Hospital. These offices he retained until 1763.

Bibliography: Kayserling, Moses Mendelssohn, p. 15; Hock-Kaufmann, Die Familien Prags, p. 314, Presburg, 1872; Carmoly, Les Médecins Juifs.