Adolphe Franck

Franck was a French philosopher and one of the first scholars to give the Kabbalah serious academic treatment, in his 1843 study 'La Kabbale, ou la philosophie religieuse des Hebreux'. He was the first professing Jew elected to the College de France and to the Academie des sciences morales et politiques, and campaigned against slavery and antisemitism. He was raised in an observant Jewish family in Lorraine and remained a committed Jew throughout his life.