Wilhelm Bacher (1850–1913)

Wilhelm Bacher (January 12, 1850–1913) was a Hungarian scholar, Orientalist, and linguist, born in Liptó-Szent-Miklós, Hungary to the Hebrew writer Simon Bacher. 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 throughout all its 12 volumes (Dotan 1977). Although almost all of Bacher's works were written in German or Hungarian, at the urging of Hayyim Nahman Bialik many were subsequently translated into Hebrew by Alexander Siskind Rabinovitz. January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the game, see: 1850 (board game) Year 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, by Westerners. ... The following is a list of linguists, those who study linguistics. ... The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... Hayyim Nahman Bialik (January 9, 1873–July 4, 1934), also commonly written as Chaim or Haim Nachman Bialik and in the Hebrew language as חיים נחמן ביאליק, was a Jewish poet who wrote in Hebrew. ...

Education

Wilhelm attended the Hebrew schools in Szucsán and in his native town, and passed through the higher classes of the Evangelical Lyceum at Presburg from 1863 to 1867, at the same time diligently prosecuting Talmudic studies. A Lyceum can be an educational institution (often a school of secondary education in Europe), or a public hall used for cultural events like concerts. ... Bratislava (until 1919: PreÅ¡porok in Slovak, Pressburg in German and English; Pozsony in Hungarian) is the capital of Slovakia and the countrys largest city, with a population of some 450,000. ... The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ...

In 1867 he began the study of philosophy and of Oriental languages—the latter under Vámbéry—at the University of Budapest, and also attended the lectures on the Talmud 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. 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 Englishin 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 Szegedin, which had become vacant in consequence of the death of Leopold Löw. This article is about Eötvös Loránd University, which is often referred to as University of Budapest. ... The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a. ... Wrocław. ... Das Jüdisch-Theologisches Seminar (Fränckelscher Stiftung), The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau Institution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonas Fränckel, and opened in 1854. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Location: 46° 15′ 0″ N 20° 10′ 0″ E Szeged  listen (in Serbian Segedin, in Polish Segedyn, in Romanian Seghedin, in Slovak Segedín) is the fourth largest city of Hungary, the regional centre of South-Eastern Hungary and the capital of Csongrád county. ... Hungarian rabbi; born at Czernahora, Moravia, May 22, 1811; died at Szegedin Oct. ...

Official Positions

On July 1, 1877, together with Moses Bloch and David Kaufmann, he was appointed by the Hungarian government to the professorship of the newly created Landesrabbinerschule of Budapest. This institution was inaugurated Oct. 4, 1877, Bacher delivering the address in the name of the faculty, and since that time he has been teacher of the Biblical sciences, of Jewish history, 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. July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning books, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. ... Jewish history is the history of the Jewish people, faith, and culture. ... Motto none Anthem Intermeco Bosnia and Herzegovina() on the European continent()  —  [] Capital (and largest city) Sarajevo Official languages Bosnian Croatian Serbian Government Parliamentary democracy  -  Presidency members NebojÅ¡a Radmanović1 Haris Silajdžić2 Željko KomÅ¡ić3  -  Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikola Å pirić  -  High Representative 4 Independence...

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 Jrodami 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. Pest (pronounced pesht) is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, comprising about two thirds of the capitals territory. ...

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 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, 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'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, Aus der Ersten Hālfte Unseres Jahrhunderts, 1893. Heinrich Graetz, ca. ... Saadia may refer to: Saadia Gaon (892-942), the Hebrew name of Said al-Fayyumi, a prominent Jewish exilarch, philosopher, and exegete. ... Portrait of Adolf Neubauer, from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. ... Rabbi Abraham Ben Meir Ibn Ezra (also known as Ibn Ezra, or Abenezra) (1092 or 1093-1167), was one of the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages. ... Rabbi Moses ben Samuel Sofer or Schreiber, also known by his main work Hatam Sofer or the Chasam Soifer (שות חתם סופר - Responsa the Seal of the Scribe), was one of the leading rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century. ...

• Sha'ar Shim'on, an edition of the Hebrew poems of his father, Simon Bacher (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 (Dotan 1977).
• 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. The magazines, etc., in which his contributions have appeared are the following: Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Heinrich Graetz, ca. ... Hebrew grammar is partly analytical, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases. ... This article, image, template or category should belong in one or more categories. ... Aggadah (Aramaic אגדה: tales, lore; pl. ...

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's birthday, Berlin, 1900, and in that published in memory of Prof. David Kaufmann, 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. Moritz Steinschneider (March 30, 1816, ProstÄ›jov (Prossnitz), Moravia – 1907) was an Austrian bibliographer and Orientalist. ... Samuel David Luzzatto (Hebrew: שמואל דוד לוצאטו) was an Italian Jewish scholar and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

• Dotan, Aron (1977), "Wilhelm Bacher's place in the history of Hebrew linguistics", Historiographia Linguistica IV(2): 135–157.