Abraham Moses Luncz (December 9, 1854 – 1918) () was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

scholar and editor born at Kovno,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. At age 14 he came to

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 ...

. Luncz, who grew blind early in life, founded, in conjunction with Dr. Koisewski, an institution for the blind at Jerusalem. In the exploration of the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, Luncz has rendered great services from the historical, geographical, and physical standpoints, through his guide-books for

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, his Palestine annuals, and his Jerusalem

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

: * ''Netibot Ẓiyyon we-Yerushalayim:

Topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of Jerusalem and Its Surroundings'' (vol. i, 1876) * ''Jerusalem, Jahrbuch zur Beförderung einer Wissenschaftlich Genauen Kenntnis des Jetzigen und des Alten Palästina'' (Hebrew and German, 6 vols., 1881–1903, Hebrew: ) * ''Literarischer Palästina-Almanach'' (Hebrew; since 1894). He owned a Hebrew

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

in the Ezrat Yisrael neighborhood, across the street from his own home in Even Yisrael. From there he issued a number of works by Jewish Palestinian scholars, Estori Farḥi's ''Kaftor wa-Feraḥ'' and Josef Schwarz's ''Tebu'ot ha-Areẓ'' being the first works published. He also produced a travel guide to Israel. As of 1904, he had in press a new edition of the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

with commentary and introduction.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

*Sokolow ''Sefer Zikkaron,'' p. 184.

References

* 1854 births 1918 deaths Yishuv journalists Blind scholars and academics Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Ashkenazi Jews from Ottoman Palestine Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Educators of the blind Blind educators Writers from Kaunas Blind writers Russian blind people Turkish blind people Authors of works on the Jerusalem Talmud 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century non-fiction writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire {{Judaism-bio-stub