1904
Bernát Munkácsi (Oradea, 1860 – Budapest, 1937) was an academic, linguist, and ethnologist who dedicated much of his career to researching the Finno-Ugric roots of the Hungarian language. The eldest of Sara Stein (Oradea, 1839 – Oradea, 1914) and Adolf Munk’s nine children, Bernát Munkácsi “Magyarized” his name in 1881 when he was a student at the University of Pest. In parallel with his scholarly career, Munkácsi served as school inspector for the Jewish Community of Pest, reforming religious education for Neolog Jews. His Universal Curriculum of 1906, , promoted the importance of learning Hebrew and reading texts in their original language. His commitment to source languages, passed down from his father, was reflected in all his scholarly work.
Bernát Munkácsi’s employment issues
After his graduation from university (1883) Bernát Munkácsi struggled with finding a job for many long years. He could not get a teaching position at a university or even secondary school, despite his qualifications and scientific erudition. His application to the position of clerk of the Orthodox Community of Großwardein was turned down – he received merely two supporting votes. In a letter written to his university professor, Joseph Budenz prior to his return from a research tour in Russia, he wrote the following: “Yet again, I will be the same refused proletarian whose greatest concern is what to write in the «employment section» of the residence reporting form, delivered by the janitor … My troubles will renew, along with encouragement and support by my scholarly well-wishers to the post of teacher of religion, clerk, cantor, a shechita inspector or a shofar blower on Rosh haShana, the Jewish new year.”
In the spring of 1890, when the Hungarian Academy elected him a corresponding member, but he was still lacking regular livelihood, his colleague, Béla Vikár wrote a poem about this untenable situation in Borsszem Jankó, a satirical journal.”
(Source: MunkácsI, Noémi, Egy nagy magyar nyelvész. Munkácsi Bernát élete (A great Hungarian linguist. The Life of Bernát Munkácsi) (Budapest: IMIT, 1943), p. 157. and Borsszem Jankó May 18, 1890, p. 8)