Jewish Encyclopaedia
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the history, culture, and state of
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
up to the early 20th century. The encyclopedia's managing editor was
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 ...
and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac K. Funk and Frank H. Vizetelly. The work's scholarship is still highly regarded. The
American Jewish Archives The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, founded in 1947, is committed to preserving a documentary heritage of the religious, organizational, economic, cultural, personal, social and family life of American Jewry. It has be ...
deemed it "the most monumental Jewish scientific work of modern times", and Rabbi Joshua L. Segal said "for events prior to 1900, it is considered to offer a level of scholarship superior to either of the more recent Jewish encyclopedias written in English." It was originally published in 12 volumes between 1901 and 1906 by
Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
of New York, and reprinted in the 1960s by KTAV Publishing House. It is now in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
.


Conception and editorial outline


Conception

Singer conceived of a Jewish encyclopedia in Europe and proposed creating an ''Allgemeine Encyklopädia für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums'' in 1891. He envisioned 12 volumes, published over 10 to 15 years, at a cost of 50 dollars as a set. They would contain scientific and unbiased articles on ancient and modern Jewish culture. This proposal received good press coverage and interest from the Brockhaus publishing company. After the House of Rothschild in Paris, consulted by Zadoc Kahn, offered to back the project with only eight percent of the minimum funds requested by Brockaus, the project was abandoned. Following the Dreyfus affair and associated unpleasantness, Singer emigrated to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Initially believing that American Jews could do little more than provide funding for his project, Singer was impressed by the level of scholarship in the United States. He wrote a new prospectus, changing the title of his planned encyclopedia to ''Encyclopedia of the History and Mental Evolution of the Jewish Race''. His radical ecumenism and opposition to orthodoxy upset many of his Jewish readers; nevertheless he attracted the interest of publisher Isaac K. Funk, a Lutheran minister who also believed in integrating Judaism and Christianity. Funk agreed to publish the encyclopedia on the condition that it remain unbiased on issues which might seem unfavorable for Jews. Singer accepted and was established in an office at
Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
on . Publication of the prospectus in 1898 created a severe backlash, including accusations of poor scholarship and of subservience to Christians.
Kaufmann Kohler Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish-American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles in '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Ka ...
and
Gotthard Deutsch Gotthard Deutsch (; 31 January 1859 – 14 October 1921) was a scholar of Jewish history. Education Deutsch was born in Dolní Kounice, Moravia, Austria, as Eliezer Deutsch, the son of Bernhard L. Deutsch, a merchant, and Elise Wiener. He ...
, writing in ''American Hebrew'', highlighted Singer's factual errors, and accused him of commercialism and irreligiosity. Now considering that the project could not succeed with Singer at the helm, Funk & Wagnalls appointed an editorial board to oversee creation of the encyclopedia.


Editorial board

Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
assembled an editorial board between October 1898 and March 1899. Singer toned down his ideological rhetoric, indicated his desire to collaborate, and changed the work's proposed title to ''The Jewish Encyclopedia''. Despite their reservations about Singer, rabbi Gustav Gottheil and
Cyrus Adler Cyrus Adler (September 13, 1863 – April 7, 1940) was an American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar. Early years Adler was born to merchant and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger in Van Buren, Arkansas on September 13, 186 ...
agreed to join the board, followed by
Morris Jastrow Marcus Jastrow (June 5, 1829 – October 13, 1903) was a Poland-born American Talmudic scholar and rabbi, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud, Talmud Babli, Jerusalem Talmud, ...
, Frederick de Sola Mendes, and two published critics of the project: Kauffmann Kohler and Gotthard Deutsch Theologian and Presbyterian minister
George Foot Moore George Foot Moore (October 15, 1851 – May 16, 1931) was an American historian of religion, author, professor, and Presbyterian minister. Life Moore was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. William Eves Moore and Harriet Foot Moor ...
was added to the board for balance. Soon after work started, Moore withdrew and was replaced by Baptist minister Crawford Toy. Last was added the elderly
Marcus Jastrow Marcus Jastrow (June 5, 1829 – October 13, 1903) was a Poland-born American Talmudic scholar and rabbi, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Mid ...
, mostly for his symbolic imprimatur as America's leading Talmudist. In March 1899, the
Central Conference of American Rabbis The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. ...
, which had been contemplating a competing project, agreed to discuss collaborating with Funk & Wagnalls—thus securing the position of the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' as the only major project of its kind.
Shuly Rubin Schwartz Shuly Rubin Schwartz is the Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History and Sala and Walter Schlesinger Dean of the Gershon Kekst Graduate School at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). Schwartz is the ...
describes the payment scheme arranged at this time as follows: Other editors participating in all 12 volumes were
Gotthard Deutsch Gotthard Deutsch (; 31 January 1859 – 14 October 1921) was a scholar of Jewish history. Education Deutsch was born in Dolní Kounice, Moravia, Austria, as Eliezer Deutsch, the son of Bernhard L. Deutsch, a merchant, and Elise Wiener. He ...
,
Richard Gottheil Richard James Horatio Gottheil (13 October 1862 – 22 May 1936) was an English American Semitic scholar, Zionist, founding father of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, and one of the founders of the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Biograp ...
,
Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian-born folklorist, literary critic and historian who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Born in Sydney to a Jewish family, his work went on to popula ...
,
Kaufmann Kohler Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish-American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles in '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Ka ...
,
Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 1 ...
, and
Crawford Howell Toy Crawford Howell Toy (March 23, 1836May 12, 1919), American Hebrew scholar, was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated at the University of Virginia in 1856, and studied at the University of Berlin from 1866 to 1868. From 1869 to 1879 he was pro ...
. Morris Jastrow, Jr. and Frederick de Sola Mendes assisted with volumes I to II; Marcus Jastrow with volumes I, II, and III;
Louis Ginzberg Louis Ginzberg (, ''Levy Gintzburg''; , ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of '' The Jewis ...
with the first four volumes;
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 ...
with volumes IV through VII;
Emil G. Hirsch Emil Gustav Hirsch (May 22, 1851 – January 7, 1923) was a Luxembourgish-born Jewish American biblical scholar, Reform rabbi, contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), anfounding member of the NAACP Biog ...
with volumes IV through XII; and
Wilhelm Bacher Wilhelm Bacher (; , ''Benjamin Ze'ev Bacher''; 12 January 1850 – 25 December 1913)
with volumes VIII through XII. William Popper served as assistant revision editor and chief of translation for volumes IV through XII. The editors plunged into their enormous task and soon identified and solved some inefficiencies with the project. Article assignments were shuffled around and communication practices were streamlined.
Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian-born folklorist, literary critic and historian who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Born in Sydney to a Jewish family, his work went on to popula ...
was hired as a coordinator. He also wrote four hundred articles and procured many of the encyclopedia's illustrations.
Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 1 ...
, an authority on Russia, was added as an editor.
Louis Ginzberg Louis Ginzberg (, ''Levy Gintzburg''; , ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of '' The Jewis ...
joined the project and later became head of the rabbinical literature department. The board naturally faced many difficult editorial questions and disagreements. Singer wanted specific entries for every Jewish community in the world, with detailed information about, for example, the name and dates of the first Jewish settler in Prague. Conflict also arose over what types of Bible interpretation should be included, as some editors feared that Morris Jastrow's involvement in "
higher criticism Historical criticism (also known as the historical-critical method (HCM) or higher criticism, in contrast to lower criticism or textual criticism) is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts to understand "the world b ...
" would lead to unfavorable treatment of scripture.


Scholarship

The scholarly style of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' aligns directly to the , an approach to Jewish scholarship and religion that flourished in 19th-century Germany. The encyclopedia may be regarded as the culmination of this movement, which sought to modernize scholarly methods in Jewish research. In the 20th century, the movement's members dispersed to
Jewish Studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...
departments in the United States and
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. The scholarly authorities cited in the encyclopedia—besides the classical and medieval exegetes—are almost uniformly figures, such as
Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz (—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', —''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies ('' Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual. Nah ...
,
Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...
,
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 ...
,
Wilhelm Bacher Wilhelm Bacher (; , ''Benjamin Ze'ev Bacher''; 12 January 1850 – 25 December 1913)
,
Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport (; June 1, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was a Galician and Czech rabbi and Jewish scholar. Rapoport was known by an acronym "Shir", שי"ר occasionally שיל"ר, formed by the initial letters of his Hebrew n ...
, David Zvi Hoffmann, and
Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...
. Its scholarly style is evident by the encyclopedia's almost obsessive attention to manuscript discovery, editing, publication, comparison, and dating. These endeavors were among the foremost interests of ''Wissenschaft'' scholarship. ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' is an English-language work, but the vast majority of the encyclopedia's contemporary sources are German-language sources, since this was the mother tongue of the scholars and the ''
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
'' of Biblical scholarship in general in that period. Of all works cited not in German—usually the more classical works—the largest part are either in
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 ...
or
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. The only heavily cited English-language source of contemporary scholarship is Schechter's publications in ''
The Jewish Quarterly Review ''The Jewish Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Jewish studies. It is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of ...
''. The significance of the work's publication in English rather than German or Hebrew is captured by Harry Wolfson, writing in 1926: The editors and authors of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' proved prescient in their choice of language, since within that same span of 25 years, English rose to become the dominant language of academic Jewish scholarship and among Jews worldwide. Wolfson continues that "if a ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' in a modern language were planned for the first time, the choice would undoubtedly have fallen upon English."


Editions and Russian spin-off


Print edition (1901-1906): apparatus

The scholarly apparatus of citation is thorough, but can be a bit daunting to contemporary users. Books that might have been widely known among scholars of Judaism at the time the encyclopedia was written (but which are quite obscure to a lay reader today) are referred to by author and title, but with no publication information and often without indication of the language in which they were written.


Online

The unedited text of the original can be found at ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' website. It offers both
JPEG JPEG ( , short for Joint Photographic Experts Group and sometimes retroactively referred to as JPEG 1) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degr ...
facsimiles of the original articles and
Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
transcriptions of all texts. The search capability is somewhat handicapped by the fact that the search mechanism fails to take into account the decision to maintain all
diacritical marks A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
in the transliterated
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 ...
and
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
from the 1901–1906 text, which used a large number of diacriticals not in common use today. Thus, for example, to successfully search for "
Halizah ''Halitsah'' or ''chalitzah'' () in Rabbinical Judaism is the process by which a childless widow and a brother of her deceased husband may avoid the duty to marry under the biblical system of yibbum (levirate marriage) The process involves the ...
"—the ceremony by which the widow of a brother who has died childless released her brother-in-law from the obligation of marrying her—one would have to know that they have transliterated this as "Ḥaliẓah". The alphabetic index ignores diacriticals so it can be more useful when searching for an article whose title is known.


Russian JE (1906-1913)

''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' was heavily used as a source by the 16-volume ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' in Russian, published by Brockhaus and Efron in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
between 1906 and 1913.


See also

* ''
Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...
'' * ''
Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia The ''Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia'' (''SJE''; ) was published in 11 volumes in Jerusalem from 1976 to 2005 in Russian by the Society for Research on Jewish Communities with the support of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The ''SJE'' is the only ...
'' * '' The New Jewish Encyclopedia''


References


Citations


Sources

* * * *


External links


''Jewish Encyclopedia'' Online
*
''The Jewish Encyclopedia''
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish Encyclopedia, The 1901 non-fiction books 1906 non-fiction books 20th-century encyclopedias American online encyclopedias Funk & Wagnalls books Jewish encyclopedias Reference works in the public domain