Jacob Saphir (; 1822–1886), often pronounced Yaakov Sapir, was a 19th-century writer,

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, researcher of Hebrew manuscripts, a

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without Baggage, luggage, a ...

er and

emissary Emissary may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment Star Trek * Benjamin Sisko, the Emissary of the Prophets, the Bajorans' gods * "Emissary" (''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''), the pilot episode of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' * "The Em ...

of the rabbis of

Eastern European Jewish The expression ''Eastern European Jewry'' has two meanings. Its first meaning refers to the current political spheres of the Eastern European countries and its second meaning refers to the Jewish communities in Russia and Poland. The phrase 'Ea ...

descent who settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

during his early life.

Background

Saphir was born in

Ashmyany Ashmyany or Oshmyany is a city in Grodno Region, Belarus. It is located from Vilnius in Lithuania, and serves as the administrative center of Ashmyany District. The river Ashmyanka passes through the city. As of 2025, it has a population of 16 ...

in the Russian Empire (now

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) and immigrated to

Ottoman Palestine The region of Palestine (region), Palestine is part of the wider region of the Levant, which represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia.Steiner & Killebrew, p9: "The general limits ..., as defined here, begin at the Plain of ' ...

as a child with his family in 1832. His parents, who were from the Perushim community, settled in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

. Within a year his father died and a month later his mother died. At the age of 12, he witnessed the attack by the Arabs of the Galilee on the Jews of Safed in the lunar month of

Sivan ''Sivan'' (, from Akkadian ''simānu'', meaning "season; time") is the ninth month of the civil year and the third month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of 30 days. ''Sivan'' usually falls in May–June on the Grego ...

, 1834. He moved to Jerusalem in 1836. In 1848, he was commissioned by the Jewish community of the latter city to travel through the southern countries to collect alms for the poor of Jerusalem. In 1854 he undertook a second tour to collect funds for the construction of the

Hurva Synagogue The Hurva Synagogue (), also known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid (), is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was originally founded in the early 18th century by fol ...

in the

Jewish Quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to: *Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews *Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem *Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...

, which led him in 1859 to

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The result of this journey was his momentous ethnographic work, entitled ''`Even Sapir'', a travel diary and vignette of Jewish life and history in Yemen. Saphir published also ''Iggeret Teman'' (Epistle to Yemen) (Wilna, 1868, consciously titled after

Rambam Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ag ...

's letter of the same name from centuries earlier), a work on the appearance in Yemen of the pseudo-Messiah

Judah ben Shalom Judah ben Shalom (died ca. 1878) (Hebrew: יהודה בן שלום), also known as Mori (Master) Shooker Kohail II or Shukr Kuhayl II (Hebrew: מרי שכר כחיל), was a Yemenite messianic claimant of the mid-19th century. The rise of Shukr ...

, and which was largely responsible for ending Judah ben Shalom's career. Saphir died in Jerusalem in 1886. Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the

Cairo geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled the Cairo Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Judaism, Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra ...

, as well as the first to publicize the existence of the

Midrash ha-Gadol Midrash HaGadol or The Great Midrash () is a work of aggaddic midrash, expanding on the narratives of the Torah, which was written by David ben Amram Adani of Yemen (14th century). Its contents were compiled from the Jerusalem and Babylonian T ...

, both later studied with great panache by

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

. Sapir also did extensive research and writings on Yanover, Israeli and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

etrog Etrog (, plural: ; Ashkenazi Hebrew: , plural: ) is the yellow citron (''Citrus medica'') used by Jews during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot as one of the four species. Together with the ''lulav'', ''hadass'', and ''Aravah (Sukkot), aravah'', th ...

s. He dedicated a collection of poetry to Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore. Hirschfeld, Hartwig; Montefiore Library. Jews' College. (1904). Descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library. London:Macmillan. p. 121
Internet Archive website
Retrieved 24 April 2018. In the years 1833–1885, Saphir helped print the book ''Ḥemdat Yamim'' (reprinted Jerusalem 1977) by the arch-poet of Yemen, R.

Shalom Shabazi Shalom Shabazi (1619 – c. 1720) was the son of Yosef ben Avigad, of the family of Mashtā, also commonly known as Abba Sholem Shabazi or Saalem al-Shabazi (; ). He was a Jewish rabbi and poet who lived in 17th century Yemen, often referred to a ...

, and even added an introduction to it.

''Jewish Encyclopedia'' bibliography

* Fuenn, ''Keneset Yisrael,'' pp. 557–558 *idem, in ''

Ha-Karmel ''HaKarmel'' () was a Hebrew periodical, edited and published by Samuel Joseph Fuenn in Vilna from 1860 to 1880. It was one of the important forces of the Haskalah movement in the Russian Empire. History ''HaKarmel'' was founded by Samuel Joseph ...

,'' vi, Wilna, 1866 * Geiger, Abraham, in ''Jüd. Zeit.'' xi.263–270

References

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jacob Saphir
written by

Isidore Singer Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939) was an Austrian-born American encyclopedist and editor of '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Biography Singer was born in 1859 in ...

& Schulim Ochser.
Publications by Jacob SaphirRabbi Jacob Levi Saphir & his Voyage to Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saphir, Jacob 1822 births 1886 deaths Jews from Ottoman Palestine 19th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives 19th-century male writers Lithuanian Jews Ashkenazi Jews from Ottoman Palestine 19th-century travel writers Jewish Yemeni history Yemen researchers Researchers of Yemenite Jewry People from Ashmyany Jewish anthropologists Jewish Indonesian history Shelichei derabonan (rabbis)

Background

See also

''Jewish Encyclopedia'' bibliography

References

External links