Thursday, May 24, 2012

A list of educated Jews throughout history.

The amazing hebrewbooks.org has a fascinating and rare pamphlet called Reshimos Anshei Mofes published in Rausnitz in 1838 (supplied by the YIVO library, its owner was the great bibliographer Benjacob)

It's author, Joseph Flesch, intended it as a compilation of "mighty scholars, old and new, who distinguished themselves by their commentaries on the Bible, as great grammarians, Hebraists and experts in other languages ... who grasped Talmudic and various other branches of knowledge." In doing so he hoped to show the panoply of great Jewish scholars throughout the ages. Arranged alphabetically, by first name, and also chronologically - his first entry, under aleph, is Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus amd the last, under aleph, is Rabbi Abraham Geiger. He tries to list everyone he can think of. Thus, there is Ptolemy (who spearheaded the LXX, he thinks), Spinoza and Salomon Maimon, alongside various Tannaim and posekim. Each entry is accompanied with a few words or lines of biography, explaining why they are on the list. For obvious reasons, the more recent ones (18th and 19th century) are the most interesting.

Oirignally I thought it might be interesting to type out his complete list of names, only arranged chronologically. I got this far, and then thought that I have better things to do:

73 R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
80 Onqelos Ha-ger
173 R. Eliezer Ha-qalir (that's right)/ or 970, he adds, according to R. S.J. Rapoport
219 R. Oshaiah
900 Adonim/ Dunash ibn Labrat
950 Menachem ben Saruk
1037 R. Aharon ben Asher
1050 Avicena
1105 Avraham b. Yihye
1174 Avraham ibn Ezra
1180 Avraham ben Dior
1180 Avraham ben Chisda
1200 Avraham ben David, Rabad
1200 Ibn Rushad
1238 R. Eliezer of Worms
1247 R. Eliezer ben Nathan Ashkenazi
1250 R. Abraham Maimonides
1286 R. Aharon Halevi of Barcelona
1286 R. Isaac Tirnau
1290 R. Aharaon ben Yoseph of Kairwan
1305 R. Asher ben Yechiel
1350 R. Aharon ben Elijah of Cairo
1400 R. R. Elijah Bashyatzi
1463 R. Abraham Bibago
1490 R. Elijah Delmedigo
1509 R. Elijah Mizrahi
1509 or 1523 R. Abraham de Balmes

so instead I will list some of  interesting people he gives in his chain-of-tradition. In no particular order:

- R. Shimon ben Yochai is the "baal ha-Zohar"
- He lists R. Isaac Bernays, only for some reason he calls him R. Shlomo Bernays, and is under the impression that he is the "Chacham of the Sephardim in Hamburg."
- On the last page he adds some young rabbis and scholars who are educated and making positive impressions on the youth. Among them future Chief Rabbi of Great Britain "Adler, darshan and mochiach in Hannover) and Frankel of Dresden.
- You have R. Pinchas Halevi Horowitz  (Haflaah) but not a contemporary rabbi, R. Moshe Sofer, his student. But you do have R. Moshe Kunitz.
- For some reason he decided that Maimonides' father's name was Yoseph, and that Maimon was the family name.

There are several other examples of the maskilic chains of tradition. Yitzchak Baer Levinsohn included one in his Teudah Be-yisrael, and R. Samson Rafael Hirsch's uncle Moses Mendelssohn Frankfurter of Hamburg also wrote one, although it was only published in 1872, in his Pene Tevel.

21 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Who said anything about jewish? He was a liberal muslim.

      Delete
    2. I called the post "Educated Jews..." and Avicenna is included in this pamphlet. So it's a fair question!

      Delete
  2. Of course not. He has 3 or 4 exceptions. It's possible he thought he was Jewish, although I doubt it. It wasn't yet discovered that Avivcebron was really R. Shlomo ibn Gabirol, so I don't think he was going in that direction. More likely included him because of his importance in the Jewish philosophical tradition. On the other hand, he doesn't include Aristotle. I think he was just a quirky man, Joseph Flesch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ptolemy, too wasn't Jewish.

    Anyway, does he include me on his list? If not, I'm insulted.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's Averroes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. No smart Jews between 219 and 900? Sheesh. Nothing but blockheads, for 700 years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a bad time for education in many parts of the world, not just for Jews. (Dark Ages, hello.) And a very bad time for preserving written documents. There were probably a lot of educated people in that period we've never heard about because before their learning could spread, a big herd of Visigoths came charging through and used things manuscripts as torches to burn towns down along with all the manuscripts in them.

      Delete
  6. Wow. How Forward 50-ish. I always thought list-making was a modern/pop culture thing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The very next time I read a blog, I hope thаt
    it doеs not fail me juѕt as much as this ρarticular onе.
    After all, ӏ κnow it was my choicе to read, howevеr I genuinely belіevеd you'd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something that you could fix if you were not too busy seeking attention.
    Also visit my blog post :: paydayloans

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yοuг method of telling eveгything in thіs pаragraph is tгuly fastiԁious, all can еffoгtlessly knоw іt,
    Thankѕ a lot.
    My web page > loans for bad credit

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thаnκs for finаllу talkіng about > "A list of educated Jews throughout history." < Loved it!
    Also see my website: instant loans for bad credit

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have rеad so many content on the topiс of the blogger lovers
    except thiѕ аrticle is actuаllу a goοԁ artiсlе,
    keеp it up.
    My site : loans for bad credit

    ReplyDelete
  11. Magnificent goods fгom yοu, man.

    Ӏ've take note your stuff prior to and you are just extremely magnificent. I actually like what you've got right here, reаlly likе ωhаt you're stating and the way through which you assert it. You're making
    it entertainіng and уou still care fоr
    to staу іt wise. I cаn't wait to read far more from you. That is actually a great site.
    My website :: how to stop someone snoring

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow! At laѕt I got a webѕite from where Ι
    can in fact get useful faсts regarding my study and knowledge.
    Also visit my blog post : Cash Loans

    ReplyDelete
  13. Theге is certaіnly a lot tο knoω about this subject.
    I really likе all of the рointѕ you've made.

    Also visit my web page; instant cash

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello There. I found your blоg using msn. Thiѕ
    is a very well written аrticle. I'll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.

    Here is my blog post - payday loans

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's going to be finish of mine day, but before ending I am reading this wonderful post to increase my experience.

    Here is my webpage - Property for Sale
    Also see my webpage > Property for Sale

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ι gоt this site from my pal whо informed mе conсerning
    this web site anԁ now this time I am visiting
    thіs ωeb page аnd reaԁing
    veгy іnformatіve artiсles oг reνiews аt this time.


    Also viѕit mу ωeb blog payday loans

    ReplyDelete
  17. great publish, verу informativе.
    I wondеr why thе opposite expeгtѕ of
    thіs sector do not notice this. You muѕt pгοceed your wгiting.
    I'm confident, you'vе а great readers' base already!

    my blog post; Payday Loans

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails
'