Ernest David Klein, OC (July 26, 1899, Szatmárnémeti – February 4, 1983, Ottawa, Canada) was a Hungarian-born Romanian-Canadian linguist, author, and rabbi.
At the young age of nine years, Klein was able to recite the entire Book of Psalms by heart.
In an interview by The Canadian Jewish News (August 1, 1975), Klein recalls traveling from his birthplace Satu Mare, Romania to Austria, a little uneasy at the prospect of studying in a foreign country where he did not know the language.
[1] Fifty years later, in 1975 at a ceremony held in Canada by the Austrian Consulate, Klein was awarded the "Golden Ph.D." on his promotion to Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Vienna.
[1] His wife and young son were killed in Czechoslovakia before World War II officially commenced.
There he held the post of Rabbi of Congregation Beth Yitshak in Toronto, founded by Hungarian-speaking Holocaust survivors and named for Klein's father Yitschak.