Benisch was born to
Jewish parents at
Drosau,
Bohemia, in 1811. He studied
surgery in
Prague about 1836—while a commentary on
Ezekiel which he had written was being published—with a view to preparing himself for a journey to
Palestine. Together with his close friends and fellow students
Albert Löwy and
Moritz Steinschneider, he founded in 1838 the
proto-Zionist secret society "Die Einheit". For some years he studied medicine at the
University of Vienna, but abandoned the study before proceeding to a degree. He left Austria in 1841 to settle in England, where he devoted himself to Jewish journalism and literature. His Hebrew learning and his actively displayed devotion to Judaism secured for him a high reputation among the Jews in England. In 1854 he became editor of the
Jewish Chronicle, which position he held till 1869, resuming the editorship again from 1875 till the year of his death. His editorial influence was exerted in favor of a moderate orthodoxy. He made quite a feature of the correspondence columns of the paper. Benisch took an active part in communal affairs, and helped to found several learned societies, including the Biblical Institute and its allies, the Syro-Egyptian and the Biblical Chronological Societies. These three were afterward fused into the
Society of Biblical Archaeology. He zealously promoted the formation of the Society of Hebrew Literature in 1870, and of the
Anglo-Jewish Association in 1871. Benisch died at
Hornsey on 31 July 1878. He left the copyright of the
Jewish Chronicle to the Anglo-Jewish Association, which, shortly after his death, sold it to Israel Davis and
Sydney Montagu Samuel. ==Partial bibliography==