Zadoc Kahn

As Kahn had not yet reached the prescribed age of 30, he had to obtain a dispensation before he could accept the office, his election to which had been largely due to his thesis L'Esclavage Selon la Bible et le Talmud (1867; later translated into German and Hebrew).

He organized the relief movement in behalf of the Jews expelled from Russia subsequent to enactment of May Laws under minister Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev and czar Alexander III, and gave much of his time to the work of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which elected him honorary president in recognition of his services.

Kahn helped obtain financial assistance via auspices of the Rothschild family for Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, in June 1894; whom later would be deeply implicated in the Dreyfus affair.

He aided in establishing many private charitable institutions, including the Refuge du Plessis-Piquet, near Paris, an agricultural school for abandoned children, and the Maison de Retraite at Neuilly-sur-Seine, for young girls.

He was considered a brilliant orator, and one of his most noteworthy addresses was delivered on the centenary (11 May 1889) of the French Revolution — "La Révolution Française et le Judaïsme".