Moses Hadas (June 25, 1900,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

– August 17, 1966) was an American teacher, a classical scholar, and a translator of numerous works from Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and German.

Life

Raised in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

in a

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

-speaking

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

household, his early studies included

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

nical training."The Many Lives of Moses Hadas by Rachel Hadas"
/ref> He earned a rabbinical degree (1926) from the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

, NY and earned his MA (1925) and PhD (1930) in classics at Columbia University, NY. He was fluent in Yiddish, German, ancient Hebrew,

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, French, and Italian, and well-versed in other languages. His most productive years were spent at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he was a colleague of

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, ...

and

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

. There he bucked the prevailing classical methods of the day—

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

and

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

—presenting classics, even in translation, as worthy of study as

literary works Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, th ...

in their own right. He embraced

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

as a tool for education, becoming a telelecturer and a

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

on broadcast television. He also recorded classical works on

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

and tape. Early in 1966, Hadas delivered four lectures on Hebraism and Hellenism at the 92nd St Y in New York City. Moses Hadas had four children, Jane, David, Elizabeth and

Rachel Hadas Rachel Hadas (born November 8, 1948) is an American poet, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is ''Piece by Piece: Selected Prose'' (Paul Dry Books, 2021), and her most recent poetry collection is ''Ghost Guest'' (Ra ...

. With his first wife, he had a son David Hadas (1931-2004), a professor of English and Religious Studies at Washington University; and Jane Streusand. Hadas is credited with two celebrated witticisms: - "This book fills a much-needed gap." - "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book. I'll waste no time reading it."

Selected works

*''Sextus Pompey''. 1930 *''Book of delight'', by Joseph ben Meir Zabara; translated by Moses Hadas; with an introduction by Merriam Sherwood. 1932 *''History of Greek literature''. 1950 *''History of Latin literature''. 1952. *''Greek poets''. 1953 *''Ancilla to classical reading''. 1954 *''

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...

''. translated with an introd. by Moses Hadas. 1955 *''History of Rome, from its origins to 529 A.D., as told by the Roman historians''. 1956 *''

Thyestes In Greek mythology, Thyestes (pronounced , , ) was a king of Olympia. Thyestes and his brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus, in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge ...

''. Translated, with an introduction by Moses Hadas. 1957 *''Stoic philosophy of Seneca; essays and letters of Seneca.''. 1958 *''Hellenistic culture: fusion and diffusion''. 1959 *''Humanism: the Greek ideal and its survival''. 1960 *''Essential works of Stoicism''. 1961 *''Old wine, new bottles; a humanist teacher at work''. 1962 *''Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Modern abridgment, 1962 *''Hellenistic literature''. 1963 *''Style the repository''. 1965 *''Heroes and gods; spiritual biographies in antiquity'', by Moses Hadas and

Morton Smith Morton Smith (May 28, 1915 – July 11, 1991)Neusner, Jacob, ''Christianity, Judaism, and other Greco-Roman Cults. Part 1: New Testament'', ed. J. Neusner, ''Studies for Morton Smith at Sixty, vol 1, New Testament'' (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), p ...

. 1965 *''Introduction to classical drama''. Foreword by Alvin C. Eurich. 1966 *''Living tradition''. 1967 *'' Solomon Maimon'', an autobiography / edited and with a preface by Moses Hadas. 1975

Discography

During the fifties, Hadas recorded several albums of Latin and Greek works on

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

.Hadas Discography
at

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

* ''The Story of Virgil's Aeneid: Introduction and Readings in Latin (and English) by Professor Moses Hadas'' (1955) * ''The Latin Language: Introduction and Reading in Latin (and English) by Professor Moses Hadas of Columbia University'' (1955) * ''Plato on the Death of Socrates: Introduction with Readings from the Apology and the Phaedo in Greek & in English trans.'' (1956) * ''Caesar: Readings in Latin and English by Professor Moses Hadas'' (1956) * ''Cicero: Commentary and Readings in Latin and English by Moses Hadas'' (1956) * ''Longus - Daphnis and Chloe: Read by Moses Hadas from His Translation'' (1958)

References

External links

Youtube Recording of Hellenism & Hebraism: The First Encounter, with Moses Hadas
(1966) Lecture by Moses Hadas at The 92nd St Y, New York City, 1966
Youtube Recording of Hellenism & Hebraism: The First Encounter, with Moses Hadas, 1966 Part 2Youtube Recording of Hellenism & Hebraism: The First Encounter, with Moses Hadas, 1966 Part 3
*https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/8754-hadas-moses

by Rachel Hadas, ''Columbia University Alumni Magazine'', Fall 2001

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Finding aid to Moses Hadas papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadas, Moses American classical scholars 1900 births 1966 deaths Classical scholars of Columbia University American literary critics American male non-fiction writers Greek–English translators Yiddish-speaking people Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American non-fiction writers American Orthodox Jews Jewish scholars Scholars of ancient Greek literature Scholars of Latin literature 20th-century American translators People from Atlanta Place of death missing 20th-century American Jews