The translation of the Bible into the vernacular is a venerable Jewish tradition, more than two thousand years old. Ashkenazi Jewish culture was a latecomer to the vernacular Bible, and it was only in the sixteenth century that the Yiddish Bible made its appearance in print. Almost one hundred years ago, Wilhelm Staerk and Albert Leitzmann's survey of Early Modern Yiddish Bible translations was the first attempt to define this genre of Early Modern Yiddish literature. In the intervening century there has been relatively little scholarly interest in these texts. The purpose of the present study is to survey the present state of research in this field and place these works in the context of the popular religious culture of Ashkenazi Jewry, which is defined by its use of Yiddish as a means of both oral communication and literary production. The subject of this study is every Yiddish work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that is directly or indirectly related to the Bible. The survey begins with the Mirkevet ha-Mishneh, the first published Yiddish book, which is a biblical concordance, published in Cracow, 1534-36, and concludes with the two competing translations of the entire Bible into Yiddish by Yekutiel Blitz and Joseph Witzenhausen, published in Amsterdam, 1676-86. (These were translations without any accompanying commentaries, and were modeled on Protestant Bibles, like the English King James, or the German Luther Bible.) The study includes not only translations of biblical books, but also adaptations, reworkings, and paraphrases of biblical texts, appearing in diverse literary styles, by a wide variety of authors. King David, for example, is presented in the Shmuel Bukh as a combination of medieval chivalric hero and rabbinic scholar who is careful to observe the strictures of Halakhah. The story of Jonah is retold through a midrashic lens, and concludes with a kabbalistic parable that analogizes Jonah's journey to that of the soul from conception through life, death, and return to its heavenly source. Some authors take great liberties with the biblical text. The author of the paraphrase of Isaiah only includes what he considers to be prophetic utterances and disregards the rest of the book. Another author decides that the second half of the Torah is too legalistic and not worth retelling, so he ends his commentary after the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. As for the Five Scrolls, Lamentations is too depressing so he ignores it. There are also surprising inclusions in these volumes, such as the books of Judith and Susanna from the Apocrypha, and the very colorful medieval version of the Book of Ben Sira, which is considered by modern scholars to be a parody.

The Early Modern Yiddish Bible: From the Mirkevet Ha-Mishneh to Blitz and Witzenhausen

Literature & Fiction

Faierstein, Morris M.

History & Criticism

Hebrew Union College Press

Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Izbica was a unique thinker in the history of Hasidism with a highly personal vision of Judaism. His teachings, partially derived from the Przysucha-Kotsk school, adopted the concept of absolute divine providence as a cornerstone.

All Is in the Hands of Heaven: The Teachings of Rabbi Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Izbica (Sources and Studies in Kabbalah, Hasidism, and Jewish Thought, Vol. 2)

Religion & Spirituality

Judaism

Ktav Publishing House, Inc.

"In his lifetime, the late Abraham Joshua Heschel was celebrated as a profound religious thinker, an eloquent writer on Hasidism, a modern prophet who led civil rights marches. All of these eclipsed his reputation as a first-rate scholar of Jewish thought; since his death his work has gradually emerged from behind his fame." "Central among his interests was the nature of the direct experience of God, either mystically or prophetically. While his work on the ancient Israelite prophets is well known, his studies of prophetic inspiration among Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages is not, in part because it exists in article form and in part because these articles were written in Hebrew." "The standard Jewish view is that prophecy ended with the ancient prophets, somewhere early in the Second Temple era. Heschel demonstrated that this view is not altogether accurate. Belief in the possibility of continued prophetic inspiration, and in its actual occurrence - appear throughout much of the medieval period, and even in modern times."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authorities

Biographies & Memoirs

Heschel, Abraham Joshua

Leaders & Notable People

Ktav Pub & Distributors Inc

The Dybbuk: Its Origins and History (Western Esoteric Traditions)

State University of New York Press

Truth Springs from the Earth: The Teachings of Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk

Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk (1787-1859) was one of the most interesting and challenging figures of Hasidism in the nineteenth century. His search for truth and battles against falsehood and spiritual compromise are the subject of many legends, hagiographical stories, and anecdotes. Though he was irascible and demanding, he inspired the loyalty of disciples who went on to become the dominant leaders of Hasidism in Poland from the middle of the nineteenth century to the destruction of Polish Jewry in the Holocaust. R. Menahem Mendel left no surviving writings. His descendants and disciples moved away from the radicalism of his teachings and adopted more conventional and conservative theological positions. As a result, there was little incentive to preserve and publish his teachings. The goal of this work is twofold. First, to present a biographical study of what is known about R. Menahem Mendel that is based on historical research, instead of repeating myths, legends, and stories without regard to their historical veracity. Secondly, to collect, translate, and analyze those teachings and sayings by or about R. Menahem Mendel that are consistent with what we know about his life and teachings, and are also accessible to a broader audience.

Pickwick Publications

Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Izbica was a unique thinker in the history of Hasidism with a highly personal vision of Judaism. His teachings, partially derived from the Przysucha-Kotsk school, adopted the concept of absolute divine providence as a cornerstone.

All Is in the Hands of Heaven: The Teachings of Rabbi Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Izbica (Revised Edition)

History

World

Gorgias Pr Llc

This is the first scholarly English translation with annotations of the Ze`enah U-Re`enah, a Jewish classic first published in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the most widely read work of Yiddish literature for centuries. It was the first significant anthological commentary to the Torah, Haftarot and five Megillot. This work provides an accessible introduction to the Jewish tradition of Biblical interpretation.

Ze’enah U-Re’enah: A Critical Translation into English (Studia Judaica, 96)

de Gruyter

Sefer Brantshpigl

Boston : De Gruyter

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