Wilhelm Bacher
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Bacher was a Jewish Hungarian scholar, rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

, Orientalist
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...

 and linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

, born in Liptó-Szent-Miklós
Liptovský Mikuláš
Liptovský Mikuláš is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Basin near the Low Tatra and Tatra mountains...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 to the Hebrew writer Simon Bacher
Simon Bacher
Simon Bacher was a Hungarian Neo-Hebraic poet.Bacher, whose name was originally Bachrach, came of a family of scholars, and counted as one of his ancestors the well-known Moravian-German rabbi Jair Ḥayyim Bacharach. He studied Talmud in his native city, and in Mikulov under Menahem Nahum...

. Wilhelm was himself an incredibly prolific writer, authoring or co-authoring approximately 750 works in an unfortunately short life. He was a contributor to many collaborative projects (encyclopedias), and was a major contributor to the landmark Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...

 throughout all its 12 volumes . Although almost all of Bacher's works were written in German or Hungarian, at the urging of Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Hayim Nahman Bialik , also Chaim or Haim, was a Jewish poet who wrote in Hebrew. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poets and came to be recognized as Israel's national poet.-Biography:...

 many were subsequently translated into Hebrew by Alexander Siskind Rabinovitz.

Education

Wilhelm attended the Hebrew schools in Szucsán and in his native town, and passed through the higher classes of the Evangelical Lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

 at Presburg from 1863 to 1867, at the same time diligently prosecuting Talmudic studies.

In 1867 he began the study of philosophy and of Oriental languages—the latter under Ármin Vámbéry
Ármin Vámbéry
Ármin Vámbéry, Arminius Vámbéry born Hermann Bamberger, or Bamberger Ármin , was a Hungarian orientalist and traveler...

—at the University of Budapest
University of Budapest
The Eötvös Loránd University or ELTE, founded in 1635, is the largest university in Hungary, located in Budapest.-History:The university was founded in 1635 in Nagyszombat by the archbishop and theologian Péter Pázmány. Leadership was given over to the Jesuits...

, and also attended the lectures on the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 given by Samuel Löb Brill. In 1868, he went to Breslau, where he continued the study of philosophy and philology at the University, and that of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau
Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau
Das Jüdisch-Theologische Seminar , The Jewish Theological Seminary of BreslauInstitution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonas Fränckel, and opened in 1854...

. He graduated at the University of Leipsic in 1870. His graduation thesis, Nizâmî's Leben und Werke, und der Zweite Theil des Nizâmî'schen Alexanderbuches, appeared in 1871, and was translated into English in 1873 by S. Robinson. This was afterward incorporated in the collection entitled Persian Poetry for English Readers. In 1876, Bacher graduated as rabbi, and shortly afterward was appointed to the rabbinate in Szeged
Szeged
' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....

, which had become vacant in consequence of the death of Leopold Löw
Leopold Löw
Leopold Löw was a Hungarian rabbi.-Biography:Born in Černá Hora, Moravia, he received his preliminary education at the yeshibot of Třebíč, Kolín, Lipník nad Bečvou and Eisenstadt , and then studied philology, pedagogics, and Christian theology at the Lyceum of Bratislava and at the universities...

.

Official Positions

On July 1, 1877, together with Moses Bloch and David Kaufmann
David Kaufmann
David Kaufmann was a Jewish-Austrian scholar born at Kojetín, Moravia...

, he was appointed by the Hungarian government to the professorship of the newly created Landesrabbinerschule of Budapest. Bacher delivered the inaugural address in the name of the faculty at inaugurated of the institution in Oct. 4, 1877, and remained as teacher of the Biblical sciences, of Jewish history
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Since Jewish history is over 4000 years long and includes hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes...

, and of various other branches at that institution. Bacher was for a time in 1878 field-chaplain in the Austro-Hungarian army, being delegated to the headquarters of the army of occupation in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

.

The congregation of Pest, Hungary appointed Bacher director of the Talmud-Torah School in 1885. In 1884 Bacher and Joseph Bánóczi founded the Judæo-Hungarian review, the Magyar Zsidó Szemle, which they conjointly edited during the first seven years. In 1894 he assisted in founding the Judæo-Hungarian Literary Society, Izraelita Magyar Irodami Társulat, of which he became vice-president in 1898. This society instituted a new translation of the Bible into Hungarian—the first complete translation due solely to Jewish initiative. The first five year-books of the society were edited by Bacher in conjunction with F. Mezey and afterward with D. Bánóczi.

Voluminous Author

Bacher is the author of the following works:
  • Muslicheddin Sa'adî's Aphorismen und Sinngedichte, zum Ersten Male Herausgegeben und Uebersetzt, mit Beiträgen zur Biographie Sa'adi's, 1879.
  • Several contributions to the history of Persian literature in Z. D. M. G.
  • Kritische Untersuchungen zum Prophetentargum, ib. 1874.
  • Discussions of the Targum on Job and the Psalms, in Monatsschrift, 1871, 1872.
  • Abraham ibn Ezra's Einleitung zu Seinem Pentateuchcommentar, als Beitrag zur Geschichte der Bibelexegese Beleuchtet, in Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1876.
  • Die Grammatische Terminologie des Jehuda b. David Hajjugs, ib. 1882.
  • Die Hebräisch-Arabische Sprachvergleichung des Abulwalîd Merwân ibn Ganachs, ib. 1884.
  • Die Hebräisch-Neuhebräische Sprachvergleichung des Abulwalîd, ib. 1885.
  • Die Agada der Babylonischen Amoräer (First Annual Report of the Landes-rabbinerschule at Budapest, 1878; also printed separately). This work, like all others published in the annual reports of the National Rabbinical Institute, was published contemporaneously in Hungarian.
  • Abraham Ibn Ezra als Grammatiker, ib. 1881
  • Leben und Werke des Abulwalîd Merwân Ibn Gānāḥ und die Quellen Seiner Schrifterklärung, ib. 1885.
  • Aus der Schrifterklärung des Abulwalîd Merwân ibn Gānāḥ, 1889.
  • Die Bibelexegese der Jüdischen Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters vor Maimûni, 1892.
  • Die Bibelexegese Moses Maimûni's, 1896.
  • Ein Hebräisch-Persisches Wörterbuch aus dem Vierzehnten Jahrhundert, 1900.
  • Die Agada der Tannaïten. The first volume of this work was published in H. Grätz's Monatsschrift from 1882 to 1884, and also appeared in 1884 in a separate edition in honor of the ninetieth birthday of L. Zunz; the second volume was published in 1890. A second, enlarged edition of Vol. I. appeared in 1902.
  • The three volumes of the Agada der Palästinischen Amoräer appeared respectively in 1892, 1896, and 1899.
  • Kitâb al-Luma', Le Lion des Parterres Fleuris, in publications of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 1886. Bacher's revised edition of this work was published under Derenbourg's name.
  • An edition of the Book of Job as translated by Saadia
    Saadia
    Saadia is a Jewish name and Arabic name. it can refer to several people:*Saadia Gaon - Ninth century rabbi, philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.*Saadia Afzaal - Pakistani journalist and television news anchor....

     in Derenbourg's edition of Saadia's works (Œuvres Complètes de R. Saadia, Volume Cinquième, Paris, 1900).
  • An edition of the Sefer Zikkaron, or Hebrew Grammar of Joseph Ḳimḥi
    Joseph Kimhi
    Joseph Ḳimḥi , was a medieval Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator. He was the father of Moses and David Kimhi, and the teacher of Rabbi Menachem Ben Simeon....

    , published in writings of the society Meḳiẓe Nirdamim, 1888.
  • Sefer ha-Shorashim, Wurzelwörterbuch der Hebräischen Sprache, von Abulwalîd Merwân ibn Gānāḥ, aus dem Arabischen ins Hebräische Uebersetzt von Jehudah ibn Tibbon, mit einer Einleitung über das Leben und die Schriften Abulwalîd's und mit Registern und einem Anhange, Nebst Textberichtigungen zum Sefer Versehen. This is an edition of the Hebrew translation of Abulwalîd's great lexicon, the principal grammatical work of that author. In this work, also published by the society Meḳiẓe Nirdamim, Bacher corrected the Hebrew text in accordance with the Arabic original, and mentioned the sources of all the Biblical and other citations contained in it, which sources are not given in A. Neubauer's edition.
  • A compilation of the various readings of Ibn Ezra
    Ibn Ezra
    Ibn Ezra was a prominent Jewish family from Spain spanning many centuries.The name ibn Ezra may refer to:* Abraham ibn Ezra , a Rabbi who lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries...

    's Commentary on the Pentateuch in Berliner's Magazin, and separately, 1894—a work prepared with the aid of a valuable codex belonging to the university library at Cambridge.

Sefer Naḥalat Yehoshua', 2 vols., a redaction of the posthumous works of the Talmudist Kosman Wodianer (d. 1830), with a biographical introduction in Hebrew, in connection with which he prepared a list of the correspondents of Moses Sofer
Moses Sofer
Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, , , was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century...

, Aus der Ersten Hālfte Unseres Jahrhunderts, 1893.
  • Sha'ar Shim'on, an edition of the Hebrew poems of his father, Simon Bacher
    Simon Bacher
    Simon Bacher was a Hungarian Neo-Hebraic poet.Bacher, whose name was originally Bachrach, came of a family of scholars, and counted as one of his ancestors the well-known Moravian-German rabbi Jair Ḥayyim Bacharach. He studied Talmud in his native city, and in Mikulov under Menahem Nahum...

     (d. Nov. 9, 1891), with a biographical introduction in Hebrew.
  • An edition of H. Grätz's Emendationes in Plerosque Sacræ Scripturæ V. T. Libros, 1892-94.
  • A treatment of the chapters of philology and exegesis in Winter and Wünsche's collection of Hebrew literature, Die Jüdische Literatur. These contributions of Bacher have also been published separately under the respective titles: Die Jüdische Bibelexegese vom Anfange des Zehnten bis zum Ende des Fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts.
  • Die Hebräische Sprachwissenschaft vom Zehnten bis zum Sechzehnten Jahrhundert, mit einem Einleitenden Abschnitt über die Masora, 1892.
  • Die Anfänge der Hebräischen Grammatik, in Z. D. M. G., also published by Brockhaus, Leipsic, 1895. This is the first history of Hebrew grammar
    Hebrew grammar
    -History of studies in Hebrew grammar:The Masoretes in the 7th to 11th centuries laid the foundation for grammatical analysis of Hebrew. As early as the 9th century Judah ibn Kuraish discussed the relationship between Arabic and Hebrew...

     .
  • Die Aelteste Terminologie der Jüdischen Schriftauslegung—ein Wörterbuch der Bibelexegetischen Kunstsprache der Tannaïten, I. C. Hinrich, Leipsic, 1899.


Bacher has also been the author of numerous criticisms and reviews in periodicals devoted, like his books, to Hebrew philology, history of Biblical exegesis, and of the Aggadah
Aggadah
Aggadah refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash...

. The magazines, etc., in which his contributions have appeared are the following:

His Criticisms and Reviews

  • M. E. Stern, "Kokbe Yiẓḥaḳ," 1865-68
  • "Monatsschrift," 1869-92
  • "Izraelit Közlöny," 1869-70
  • Rahmer's "Israelitische Wochenschrift und Jüdische Literaturblätter," 1870-76
  • I. Kobak's "Jeschurun," 1871
  • I. Reich, "Beth-Lechem," Jahrbuch, 1873
  • "Ha-Ḥabaẓelet," 1873; "Z. D. M. G." 1874-1902
  • Berliner's "Magazin für die Geschichte und Literatur des Judenthums," 1880-94
  • "Rev. Et. Juives," 1882-1902
  • "Magyar Zsidó Szemle," 1884-1901
  • W. R. Harper, "Hebraica," 1884-93
  • Stade, "Zeitschrift" 1885-1901
  • "Jew. Quart. Rev." 1890-1901
  • Königsberger, "Monatsblätter," 1891
  • Évkönyv, "Jahrbuch des Ungarisch-Israelitischen Literaturvereins," published in Hungarian, 1895–1901
  • "Oẓar ha-Sefarim"
  • "Gräber's Magazin für Hebrẓische Literatur," 1896
  • "Zeit. f. Hebr. Bibl." 1896-1900
  • "Deutsche Literaturzeitung," 1898-1901
  • S. H. Horodeczky's "Ha-Goren"
  • "Abhandlung über die Wissenschaft des Judenthums," 1898-1900
  • "Ha-Eshkol," "Hebräisches Jahrbuch," 1898
  • "Jahrbuch für Jüdische Gesch. und Literatur," 1899-1900
  • "Theologische Literaturzeitung," 1900-1
  • "Keleti Szemle" ("Revue Orientale," 1902)
  • "The Expository Times," 1900.


Further contributions of Bacher appeared in the festival publications to the seventieth birthday of H. Graetz, 1887, and the eightieth birthday of Steinschneider, 1896; in the festival publication in honor of Daniel Chwolsohn, 1899; and in the memorial book published on the anniversary of Samuel David Luzzatto
Samuel David Luzzatto
Samuel David Luzzatto was an Italian Jewish scholar, poet, and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. He is also known by his Hebrew acronym, Shadal ....

's birthday, Berlin, 1900, and in that published in memory of Prof. David Kaufmann
David Kaufmann
David Kaufmann was a Jewish-Austrian scholar born at Kojetín, Moravia...

, 1900. Bacher has also contributed the article Levita to the Allgemeine Encyklopädie of Ersch and Gruber, and the articles Sanhedrin and Synagoge to the last volume of Hastings and Selbie's Dictionary of the Bible
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible was a five-volume Biblical encyclopaedia published 1898—1904.-First edition:The full title was A Dictionary of the Bible, dealing with the Language, Literature and Contents, including the Biblical Theology. It was edited by James Hastings, with the assistance...

.

External links

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