Heinrich Graetz (October 31, 1817 - September 7, 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1817 ( MDCCCXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece. Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common PLEASE TAKE NOTE************
Born Tzvi Hirsh Graetz to a butcher family in Książ-Wielkopolski (Poznań) in Germany (now in Poland), he obtained his doctorate from the University of Jena. Poznań Lublin Voivodeship This article is about the city in Poland Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU is located in Jena, Thuringia in Germany and was renamed for the German writer Friedrich Schiller After 1845 he was principal of the Jewish Orthodox school of the Breslau community, and later taught history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Orthodox Judaism is the formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia His magnum opus History of the Jews was quickly translated into other languages and ignited worldwide interest in Jewish history. Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera) from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the best the greatest In 1869 the University of Breslau granted him the title of Honorary professor, in 1888 he was appointed an Honorary member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. Year 1869 ( MDCCCLXIX) is a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The University of Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski Universität Breslau Universitas Wratislaviensis is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland
Contents |
Biography
Graetz received his first instruction at Zerkov, where his parents had relocated, and in 1831 was sent to Wollstein, where he attended the yeshivah up to 1836, acquiring secular knowledge by private study. Yeshiva or yeshivah (jəʃi'və ( Hebrew: ישיבה "sitting (n Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. The "Neunzehn Briefe von Ben Uziel" (see Samson Raphael Hirsch) made a powerful impression on him; and he resolved to prepare himself for academic studies in order to champion the cause of Orthodox Judaism. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ( June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz Orthodox Judaism is the formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized His first intention was to go to Prague, to which place he was attracted by the fame of its old yeshibah and the facilities afforded by the university. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. Being rejected by the immigration officers, he returned to Zerkov and wrote to S. R. Hirsch, then rabbi of Oldenburg, intimating his desire. Hirsch offered him a home in his house. Graetz arrived there on May 8, 1837, and spent three years with his patron as a pupil, companion, and amanuensis. In 1840 he accepted a tutorship with a family at Ostrowo, and in Oct. Year 1840 ( MDCCCXL) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Ostrów Wielkopolski (often abbreviated Ostrów Wlkp, formerly called only Ostrów or Ostrowo, Latin Ostrovia) is a Town , 1842, he entered the University of Breslau. Year 1842 ( MDCCCXLII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The University of Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski Universität Breslau Universitas Wratislaviensis is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland
At that time the controversy between Orthodoxy and Reform Judaism was at its height, and Graetz, true to the principles which he had imbibed from Hirsch, began his literary career by writing contributions to the "Orient," edited by Julius Fürst, in which he severely criticized the Reform party, as well as Geiger's text-book of the Mishnah ("Orient," 1844). Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently subjected to vandalism and the insertion of personal opinions Julius Fürst (also Julius Furst) (1805–1873 was a Jewish German Orientalist. The Mishnah or Mishna (he משנה "repetition" from the verb shanah he שנה or "to study and review" is a major work of Rabbinic Judaism These contributions and his championship of the Conservative cause during the time of the rabbinical conferences made him popular with the Orthodox party. This was especially the case when he agitated for a vote of confidence to be given to Zacharias Frankel after he had left the Frankfurt conference because of the stand which the majority had taken on the question of the Hebrew language. Zecharias Frankel ( 30 September, 1801 – 13 February 1875) was a Bohemian-German Rabbi and a historian who studied the historical development After Graetz had obtained his degree of Ph. D. from the University of Jena (his dissertation being "De Auctoritate et Vi Quam Gnosis in Judaismum Habuerit," 1845; published a year later under the title "Gnosticismus und Judenthum"), he was made principal of a religious school founded by the Conservatives. Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU is located in Jena, Thuringia in Germany and was renamed for the German writer Friedrich Schiller Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems In the same year he was invited to preach a trial sermon before the congregation of Gleiwitz, Silesia, but failed completely. Gliwice (Gleiwitz is an industrial City in southern Poland with 200361 inhabitants (2004 on the Kłodnica River about 20 km to the west from Etymology One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic people
He remained in Breslau until 1848, when, upon the advice of a friend, he went to Vienna, purposing to follow a journalistic career. Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap On the way he stopped at Nikolsburg, where Samson Raphael Hirsch was residing as Moravian chief rabbi. Mikulov (ˈmɪkʊlof Nikolsburg is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7608 ( 2004) Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ( June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz Hirsch, who then contemplated the establishment of a rabbinical seminary, employed Graetz temporarily as teacher at Nikolsburg, and afterward gave him a position as principal of the Jewish school in the neighboring city of Lundenburg (1850). Mikulov (ˈmɪkʊlof Nikolsburg is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7608 ( 2004) For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link In Oct. , 1850, Graetz married Marie Monasch of Krotoschin. It seems that Hirsch's departure from Nikolsburg had an influence on Graetz's position; for in 1852 the latter left Lundenburg and went to Berlin, where he delivered a course of lectures on Jewish history before rabbinical students. Břeclav (ˈbr̝ɛtslaf German Lundenburg) is a Town in the Czech Republic, southeast of Brno. They do not seem to have been successful. Meantime his advocacy of Frankel's course had brought him into close contact with the latter, for whose magazine he frequently wrote articles; and accordingly in 1854 he was appointed a member of the teaching staff of the seminary at Breslau, over which Frankel presided. Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year In this position he remained up to his death, teaching history and Bible exegesis, with a preparatory course on the Talmud. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history In 1869 the government conferred upon him the title of professor, and thenceforward he lectured at Breslau University. Year 1869 ( MDCCCLXIX) is a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The University of Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski Universität Breslau Universitas Wratislaviensis is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland
In 1872 Graetz went to Palestine in the company of his friend Gottschalck Levy of Berlin, for the purpose of studying the scenes of the earliest period of Jewish history, which he treated in volumes one and two of his history, published in 1874-76; these volumes brought that great work to a close. Year 1872 ( MDCCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common While in Palestine he gave the first impetus to the foundation of an orphan asylum there. He also took a great interest in the progress of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and participated as a delegate in the convention assembled at Paris in 1878 in the interest of the Romanian Jews. Alliance Israélite Universelle is an international Jewish organization based in France. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Graetz's name was prominently mentioned in the anti-Semitic controversy, especially after Treitschke had published his "Ein Wort über Unser Judenthum" (1879-1880), in which the latter, referring to the eleventh volume of the history, accused Graetz of hatred of Christianity and of bias against the German people, quoting him as a proof that the Jews could never assimilate themselves to their surroundings. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility thumb Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke ( September 15, 1834 &ndash April 28, 1896) was a nationalist German Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as
This arraignment of Graetz had a decided effect upon the public. Even friends of the Jews, like Mommsen, and advocates of Judaism within the Jewish fold expressed their condemnation of Graetz's passionate language. Mommsen is a surname and may refer to one of a family of German historians see Mommsen family: Theodor Mommsen Tycho Mommsen It was due to this comparative unpopularity that Graetz was not invited to join the commission created by the union of German Jewish congregations (Deutsch-Israelitischer Gemeindebund) for the promotion of the study of the history of the Jews of Germany (1885). Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common On the other hand, his fame spread to foreign countries; and the promoters of the Anglo-Jewish Exhibition invited him in 1887 to open the Exhibition with a lecture. The seventieth anniversary of his birthday was the occasion for his friends and disciples to bear testimony to the universal esteem in which he was held among them; and a volume of scientific essays was published in his honor ("Jubelschrift zum 70. Geburtstage des Prof. Dr. H. Graetz," Breslau, 1887). A year later (Oct. 27, 1888) he was appointed an honorary member of the Spanish Academy, to which, as a token of his gratitude, he dedicated the third edition of the eighth volume of his history. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language
As usual he spent the summer of 1891 in Carlsbad; but alarming symptoms of heart disease forced him to discontinue his use of the waters. Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Carlsbad or Karlsbad is a German placename meaning "Charles's spa" He went to Munich to visit his son Leo, a professor at the university of that city, and died there after a brief illness. Leo Graetz ( September 26, 1856 &ndash November 12, 1941) was a German Physicist. The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München also known as LMU, is a University in Munich and with more He was buried in Breslau. Besides Leo, Graetz left three sons and one daughter.
Works
History of the Jews
To posterity Graetz will be chiefly known as the Jewish historian, although he did considerable work in the field of exegesis also. Exegesis (from the Greek 'to lead out' involves an extensive and critical interpretation of an authoritative text, especially of a Holy His "Geschichte der Juden" superseded all former works of its kind, notably that of Jost, in its day a very remarkable production; and it has been translated into many languages. Isaak Marcus (Markus Jost ( February 22, 1793, Bernburg &ndash November 22, 1860, Frankfurt (Main) was a Jewish The fourth volume, beginning with the period following the destruction of Jerusalem, was published first. It appeared in 1853; but the publication was not a financial success, and the publisher refused to continue it. Year 1853 ( MDCCCLIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Fortunately the publication society Institut zur Förderung der Israelitischen Litteratur, founded by Ludwig Philippson, had just come into existence, and it undertook the publication of the subsequent volumes, beginning with the third, which covered the period from the death of Judas Maccabeus to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Ludwig Philippson (born December 28[[ 811]] at Dessau; died December 29[[ 889]] at Bonn) was a German Rabbi and author the son of Judas Maccabeus (or Judah Maccabee, also spelled Machabeus or Maccabaeus Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, Yehudah HaMakabi, Judah the Hammer Etymology The Hebrew name given in Scripture for the building is Beit HaMikdash or "The Holy House" and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name This was published in 1856 and was followed by the fifth, after which the volumes appeared in regular succession up to the eleventh, which was published in 1870 and brought the history down to 1848, with which year the author closed, not wishing to include living persons.
In spite of this reserve he gravely offended the Liberal party, which inferred, from articles that Graetz contributed to the "Monatsschrift", that he would show little sympathy for the Reform element, and therefore refused to publish the volume unless the manuscript was submitted for examination. This Graetz refused to do; and the volume therefore appeared without the support of the publication society. Volumes i. and ii. were published, as stated above, after Graetz had returned from Palestine. These volumes, of which the second practically consisted of two, appeared in 1872-75, and completed the stupendous undertaking. For more popular purposes Graetz published later an abstract of his work under the title "Volksthümliche Geschichte der Juden," in which he brought the history down to his own time.
A translation into English was begun by S. Tuska, who in 1867 published in Cincinnati a translation of part of vol. ix. under the title "Influence of Judaism on the Protestant Reformation". The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time The fourth volume was translated by James K. Gutheim under the auspices of the American Jewish Publication Society, the title being "History of the Jews from the Down-fall of the Jewish State to the Conclusion of the Talmud" (New York, 1873). The terms " Jewish state " and " homeland of the Jewish people " are used to describe the State of Israel and refer to its status as a Nation-state
A five-volume English edition was published in London in 1891-92 as History of the Jews from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, In 5 vols. By Professor H Graetz, Edited and in part translated by Bella Löwy. According to a review in the January-April 1893 edition of Quarterly Review, it "was passing through the press in its English version , and had received the author's final touches, when Graetz died in September 1891". The Quarterly Review, a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. [1]
Exegesis
Graetz's historical studies, extending back to Biblical times, naturally led him into the field of exegesis. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin As early as the fifties he had written in the "Monatsschrift" essays dealing with exegetical subjects, as "Fälschungen in dem Texte der LXX. " (1853) and "Die Grosse Versammlung: Keneset Hagedola " (1857); and with his translation of and commentaries on Ecclesiastes and Canticles (Breslau, 1871) he began the publication of separate exegetical works. A commentary and translation of the Psalms followed (ib. 1882-83). Toward the end of his life he planned an edition of the whole Hebrew Bible with his own textual emendations. A prospectus of this work appeared in 1891. Shortly before the author's death, a part of it, Isaiah and Jeremiah, was issued in the form in which the author had intended to publish it; the rest contained only the textual notes, not the text itself. Isaiah (; Greek:, Ēsaiās; Arabic: اشعیاء, Ash-ee-yaa; "Salvation of/is YHWH " is Jeremiah ( jirmɛ'jahu; Septuagint Greek: Ἰερεμίας was one of the 'greater prophets ' of the Hebrew Bible. It was edited, under the title "Emendationes in Plerosque Sacræ Scripturæ Veteris Testamenti Libros," by W. Bacher (Breslau, 1892-94).
The most characteristic features of Graetz's exegesis are his bold textual emendations, which often substitute something conjectural for the Masoretic text, although he always carefully consulted the ancient versions. The Masoretic Text ( MT) is the Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible ( Tanakh) He also determined with too much certainty the period of a Biblical book or a certain passage, when at best there could only be a probable hypothesis. Thus his hypothesis of the origin of Ecclesiastes at the time of Herod the Great, while brilliant in its presentation, is hardly tenable. Ecclesiastes (often abbreviated Ecc) (קֹהֶלֶת Kohelet, variously transliterated as Qoheleth, Göhalath, Koheles, Koheleth Herod (הוֹרְדוֹס Horodos, Greek: Herōdes) also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC in Jericho His textual emendations display fine tact, and of late they have become more and more respected and adopted.
Other literary work
Graetz's activity was not limited to his special field. He enriched other branches of Jewish science, and wrote here and there on general literature or on questions of the day. His essay "Die Verjüngung des Jüdischen Stammes," in Wertheimer-Kompert's "Jahrbuch für Israeliten," vol. x. , Vienna, 1863 (reprinted with comments by Th. Zlocisti, in "Jud. Volks-Kalender," p. 99, Brünn, 1903), caused a suit to be brought against him by the clerical anti-Semite Sebastian Brunner for libeling the Jewish religion. Sebastian Brunner ( 10 December, 1814 &ndash 27 November, 1893) was an Austrian Catholic writer As Graetz was not an Austrian subject the suit was nominally brought against Kompert as editor, and the latter was fined (Dec. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich 30, 1863). Within the Jewish fold the lawsuit also had its consequences, as the Orthodox raised against Graetz the accusation of heresy because he had denied the personal character of the prophetic Messiah. This article is about the concept of a Messiah in religion notably in the Christian Islamic and Jewish traditions To the field of general literature belongs also his essay on "Shylock," published in the "Monatsschrift," 1880. Shylock is a central character in Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice who famously demanded a pound of flesh from the title character In the early years of the anti-Semitic movement he wrote, besides the articles in which he defended himself against the accusations of Treitschke, an anonymous essay entitled "Briefwechsel einer Englischen Dame über Judenthum und Semitismus," Stuttgart, 1883. To supplement his lectures on Jewish literature he published an anthology of Neo-Hebraic poetry under the title "Leḳeṭ Shoshannim" (Breslau, 1862), in which he committed the mistake of reading the verses of a poem horizontally instead of vertically, which mistake Geiger mercilessly criticized ("Jüd. Zeit. " i. 68-75). A very meritorious work was his edition of the Jerusalem Talmud in one volume(Krotoschin, 1866). The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi (תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשָׁלְמִי often the Yerushalmi for short is a collection A bibliography of his works has been given by Israel Abrahams in "The Jewish Quarterly Review" (iv. Israel Abrahams (b London, November 26 1858; d Cambridge, October 6 1925) was one of the most distinguished Jewish Not to be confused with the Jewish Quarterly. The Jewish Quarterly Review ( JQR) is the oldest English-language journal of 194-203).
Legacy
Graetz's history became very popular and influential in its time. The material for Jewish history being so varied, the sources so scattered in the literatures of all nations, and the chronological sequence so often interrupted, made the presentation of this history as a whole a very difficult undertaking; and it can not be denied that Graetz performed his task with consummate skill, that he mastered most of the details while not losing sight of the whole. Another reason for the popularity of the work is its sympathetic treatment. This history of the Jews is not written by a cool observer, but by a warm-hearted Jew. On the other hand, some of these commendable features are at the same time shortcomings. The impossibility of mastering all the details made Graetz inaccurate in many instances. A certain imaginative faculty, which so markedly assisted him in his textual emendations of the Bible, led him to make a great number of purely arbitrary statements. Typical in this respect is the introductory statement in the first volume: "On a bright morning in spring nomadic tribes penetrated into Palestine," while the Bible, which is his only source, states neither that it was in spring nor that it was on a bright morning. His passionate temper often carried him away, and because of this the eleventh volume is certainly marred. Graetz does not seem to possess the fairness necessary for a historian, who has to understand every movement as an outgrowth of given conditions, when he calls David Friedländer a "Flachkopf" (xi. David Friedländer, sometimes spelled Friedlander ( 16 December, 1750 in Königsberg – 25 December, 1834, Berlin 173) and "Moses Mendelssohn's ape" (ib. Moses Mendelssohn ( Dessau, 6 September 1729 4 January 1786 in Berlin) was a German Jewish Philosopher p. 130), or when he says of Samuel Holdheim that since the days of Paul of Tarsus Judaism never had such a bitter enemy (ib. Samuel Holdheim (1806 &ndash 22 August 1860 was a German Rabbi and author and one of the more extreme leaders of the early Reform Judaism movement Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and p. 565). His preconceived opinions very often led him to conclusions which were not borne out and were even frequently disproved by the sources. His feelings often led him to make unwarranted attacks on Christianity which have given rise to very bitter complaints. All these short-comings, however, are outbalanced by the facts that the work of presenting the whole of Jewish history was undertaken, that it was executed in a readable form, and that the author enriched Jewish history by the discovery of many an important detail.
Bibliography
- Geschichte der Juden (History of the Jews) in 11 vol. , 1853–75
Notes
- ^ "Quarterly Review" (January & April 1893). , reprinted in "Littel's Living Age" (Apr-Jun 1893).
References
- Bibliography: Rippner, in the third edition of the first volume of Graetz's Geschichte;
Abrahams, as above;
- Ph. Bloch, in the Index volume of the English translation of Graetz's work, History of the Jews Philadelphia, 1898;
- M. Wiener, Zur Würdigung des verfahrens G. . . , in Ben Chananja, 1863, Nos. 22, 23.
- History and Jewish Historians, S. W. Baron, 1964
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
Article references
- By : Isidore Singer & Gotthard Deutsch
External links
Isidore Singer (1859–1939 was an editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Gotthard Deutsch ( 31 January 1859 &ndash 14 October 1921) also spelled Gottard Deutsch, was a scholar of Jewish historyDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic