Heimann (Hayyim) Michael (April 12, 1792 – June 10, 1846) was a

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 ...

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

born at

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. He showed great acuteness of mind in early childhood, had a phenomenal memory, and was an indefatigable student. He studied Talmudics and received private instruction in all the branches of a regular school education. He was a born

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

, and began to collect valuable works when still a boy of twelve. With his progress in

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews, mostly among the Arab cit ...

his love for books increased also, the result of which was his magnificent library of 862 manuscripts and 5,471 printed works, covering all branches of Hebrew literature. There were few books in his collection which he had not read, and he undertook the preparation of a full catalog of it. As far as he accomplished this task, it was the foundation of the ''Ozerot Hayyim, Katalog der Michael'schen Bibliothek'', Hamburg, 1848. Michael took an interest not only in

Jewish literature Jewish literature includes works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works written in Jewish languages on various themes, and literary works in any language written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature ...

, but in all the intellectual movements of the day, as is shown by the large number of contemporary books and leaflets found in his library. He never wrote directly for publication, but many scholars applied to him for information, and this he never withheld. His correspondence with

Leopold Dukes Leopold Dukes (; 17 January 1810, Pozsony – 3 August 1891, Vienna) was a Hungarian critic of Jewish literature. Biography Dukes spent about 20 years in England, and from his researches in the Bodleian Library and the British Museum (which con ...

Franz Delitzsch Franz Delitzsch (23 February 1813, in Leipzig – 4 March 1890, in Leipzig) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history of J ...

Wolf Heidenheim Benjamin Wolf ben Samson Heidenheim (; 1757 – February 23, 1832) was a German Biblical exegesis, exegete and grammarian. Biography Early life Born at Heidenheim, Bavaria, Heidenheim, at an early age Heidenheim was sent to Fürth, where he stud ...

J.L. 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 ...

Luzzatto Luzzatto (or Luzzato) is an Italian surname. According to a tradition communicated by S. D. Luzzatto, the family descends from a German Jew who immigrated into Italy from the province of Lusatia, and who was named after his native place.

, Gesenius, Lebrecht,

Akiba Eiger Akiva Eiger (, also spelled Eger; , ), or Akiva Güns (8 November 1761 – 12 October 1837) was a Talmudic scholar, halakhic decisor and leader of European Jewry during the early 19th century. Eiger is considered one of the greatest Talmudic s ...

, and

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 ...

is of great literary interest. Michael's only independent work was ''Or ha-Ḥayyim'' (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1891), a comprehensive bibliographical and literary-historical dictionary of

rabbinical literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic w ...

, edited by his son, with preface by A. Berliner.

References

* ;''Jewish Encyclopedia'' bibliography *

, ''Zur Geschichte und Literatur'' p. 244, Berlin, 2010. *''Oẓerot Ḥayyim'', Preface, Hamburg, 1848. *''

Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums ''Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums'' (until May 1903: ''Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums'') was a Jewish German magazine devoted to Jewish interests, founded in 1837 by Ludwig Philippson (1811–89), published first in Leipzig and later in Berlin ...

'' 1846, p. 224. {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Heimann 1792 births 1846 deaths Bibliographers of Hebrew literature Bibliophiles Jews from Hamburg