Carl Anton (; 11 September 1722 – ?) born Moses Gershon Cohen (), was a Curonian writer and

Hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

Biography

Moses Gershon Cohen was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Mitau Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

. He claimed descent from Issachar Berman ben Naphtali ha-Kohen, the Bartenura, and Ḥayyim Vital Calabrese. After studying for seven years at

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

under Jonathan Eibenschütz, Anton traveled in the East, and on his return became a

convert to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person that brings about changes in what sociologists refer to as the convert's "root reality" including their social behaviors, thinking and ethics. The sociol ...

. He was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

under the name Carl Anton on 30 January 1748. The

Duke of Brunswick Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

then appointed him professor of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...

. Though he occasionally reviled his former coreligionists, he also spoke well of them, even vindicating them in his book on Jewish

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

s (''Einleitung in die Jüdischen und Rabbinischen Rechte, dabey Insbesonderheit von einem Judeneide'', Brunswick, 1756), against some of Eisenmenger's aspersions. Anton took part in the well-known dispute between

Jacob Emden Jacob Emden, also known as the Yaʿavetz (June 4, 1697 – April 19, 1776), was a leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed traditional Judaism in the face of the growing influence of the Sabbatean movement. He was widely acclaimed for ...

and Jonathan Eibenschütz, in which he defended the latter (''Kurze Nachricht von dem Falschen Messias, Shabbethai Ẓebi'', Wolfenbüttel, 1752; ''Nachlese zu Dieser Nachricht'', Brunswick, 1753). He wrote a

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 ...

tract on the legend of the

Wandering Jew The Wandering Jew (occasionally referred to as the Eternal Jew, a calque from German ) is a mythical immortal man whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. In the original legend, a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Cruc ...

, entitled ''Commentatio Historica de Judæo Immortali in qua hæc Fabula Examinatur et Confutatur'' (Helmstedt, 1756); translated Abraham Jagel's

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

, ''Lekaḥ Tov'' ('Good Instruction', Brunswick, 1756); and gave a description of a rare copy of '' Shulḥan Arukh Even ha-Ezer'', to be found in manuscript in the City Library of Hamburg. He also wrote ''Fabulæ Antiquitatum Ebraicarum Veterum'' (Brunswick, 1756) and ''Sammlung einiger Rabbinischer Oden nebst einer Freyen Übersetzung'' (Brunswick, 1753), among other works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anton, Carl 1722 births Year of death missing 18th-century writers in Latin Converts to Christianity from Judaism Academic staff of the University of Helmstedt People from Jelgava