Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805,

Żerków Żerków (; German: ''Zerkow'', 1943–1945 ''Bergstadt (Kr. Jarotschin'')) is a town in Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,076 inhabitants (2004). It is located 53 kilometers east of the regional capital of Poznań. His ...

South Prussia South Prussia (german: Südpreußen; pl, Prusy Południowe) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1793 to 1807. History South Prussia was created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland, Second P ...

– 9 February 1873,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German orientalist and the son of noted maggid, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished scholar of

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant ...

and literature. During his years as professor in the department of oriental languages and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

(1864–1873), he wrote many works on literary history and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...

Biography

At an early age, Fürst had a remarkable knowledge of

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was p ...

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

scriptures and oriental languages. In 1825, after having studied at Berlin, where

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

and

Neander Neander may refer to: ;Surname * August Neander (1789–1850), a German theologian and church historian * Ernst Neumann-Neander (1871–1954), founder of the now defunct Neander motorcycle manufacturer * Joachim Neander (1650–1680), Calvinist te ...

were among his teachers, he took a course in

Jewish theology Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern '' Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcil ...

at Posen. In 1829, after having abandoned his Jewish orthodoxy, he went to Breslau, and in 1831 to

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

. Here he took his degree in oriental languages and theology under Gesenius in 1832.
Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography: *

Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsa ...

'Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Poesie'', p. 124
where a didactic poem of Fürst's, "Ḥoḳ we-Emunah," composed "from his 14th-22d year," is mentioned, and which is not otherwise known; *Fürst
''Bibl. Jud.'' i. 306
et seq.; * Hilberg, ''Illustrierte Monatshefte'', i. 133 et seq.; * Steinschneider
''Hebr. Bibl.'' xiii. 140
In 1833 he became a journalist in

, later securing a position as tutor and lecturer (''privat-docent'') in the university there (lecturing on Chaldaic, Syriac,

Hebrew grammar Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved th ...

and literature,

Biblical exegesis Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

, etc.), from which position he was promoted in 1864 to professor of oriental languages and literature. He filled this post until his death, and during his tenure there he was also elected to several scientific societies. As one of the exponents of the University of Leipzig's academic scholarly milieu throughout his adult life he was also a contemporary, a friend, and a sometimes collaborator of Leipzig's own native

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

scholar and professor Franz Delitsch. Fürst was 8 years Delitsch's senior. Fürst was chief editor of ''Der Orient'' (Leipzig 1840-1851), a periodical dedicated to scientific study of the language, literature and history of the Jews.

Works

* ''Lehrgebäude der aramaischen Idiome'' (“A system for Aramic dialects,” 1835) * ''Concordantiae librorum Sacrorum veteris Testamenti Hebraicae et Chaldaicae'' (1837–40) * ''Kultur and Literaturgeschichte der Juden in Asien'' (“Cultural and literary history of Jews in Asia,” 1849) * ''Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch'' (“Portable dictionary for Hebrew and Chaldaic,” 1857-61) * ''Geschichte des Karäerthums'' (1862–65) * * * * ''Geschichte der biblischen Litteratur und des jüdisch-hellenistischen Schrifttums'' (“History of Biblical literature and Jewish-Hellenic writings,” 1867-70)

References

External links

*
''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007)
entry on "Fuerst, Julius."
Literature by and about Julius Fürst in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica

Digitized works by Julius Fürst
at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York {{DEFAULTSORT:Furst, Julius 1805 births 1873 deaths German orientalists Jewish scientists 19th-century German Jews Bibliographers of Hebrew literature Leipzig University faculty University of Breslau alumni University of Halle alumni German male non-fiction writers