Jacob Moiseyovych Eichenbaum (, ; 12 October 1796 – 27 December 1861), born Jacob Gelber, was a

Galician Jewish Galician Jews or Galitzianers () are members of the subgroup of Ashkenazi Jews originating and developed in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and Bukovina from contemporary western Ukraine (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil Oblasts) and fro ...

maskil The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

, educator, poet and mathematician.

Biography

Jacob Gelber was born in the Galician city of Krystynopil, on 12 October 1796, in the year following the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. By the age of eleven, he was already in his first marriage, but it didn't last long until the divorce, as his father-in-law suspected that he was a

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

. In 1815, when he was eighteen, he remarried, adopted the name "Eichenbaum" and settled in

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

. There he encountered a progressive Jewish youth circle, and began studying

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 ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and (in particular)

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. In 1819, he translated

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

's '' Elements'' from German into Hebrew. He worked as a travelling private tutor, teaching Hebrew subjects and mathematics in wealthy households throughout Ukraine. In 1835, Eichenbaum opened a private school for Jewish children in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, which had become an important educational centre for

Ukrainian Jews The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jews, Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultura ...

. In 1836, he published ''Kol Zimrah'', one of the first books of

Modern Hebrew poetry Modern Hebrew poetry is poetry written in the Hebrew language. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto is considered one of the earliest modern Hebrew poets. History Modern Hebrew poetry was promoted by the Haskalah movement. The first Haskalah poet, who heavily in ...

published in the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...

period. In 1840, he published ''Ha-Kerav,'' a poetry book describing a variety of chess moves in verse. Eichenbaum's educational and literary work attracted the attention of the

Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

, which advanced his position in the Jewish education system of the Russian Empire. In 1844, Eichenbaum was appointed as director of the Bessarabian Jewish school in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, and in 1850, he was appointed as chief inspector of a

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

, a position which he maintained until his death. During his final years, he continued to publish works of mathematics and poetry. In 1857, he published a Hebrew arithmetic textbook, ''Ḥokhmat ha-Shi'urim,'' which he had adapted from a work in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. In 1861, he wrote an allegorical poem, ''Ha-Kosem,'' which he published in the Hebrew newspaper ''

Ha-Melitz ''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first Hebrew newspaper in the Russian Empire. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum in Odessa in 1860. History ''HaMelitz'' first appeared as a weekly, and it began to appear daily in 1886. From 1871, it was publis ...

''. On 27 December 1861, Jacob Eichenbaum died in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eichenbaum, Jacob 1796 births 1861 deaths 19th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire 19th-century Ukrainian poets Hebrew-language poets Jewish chess players Jewish educators Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Jewish scientists Jewish Ukrainian poets Jewish writers from the Russian Empire Ukrainian mathematics educators Mathematics writers People from Sheptytskyi People from Volhynian Governorate People of the Haskalah Ukrainian chess writers Ukrainian male poets Ukrainian mathematicians Ukrainian schoolteachers