Salomon Plessner (; – ) was a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

and ''

maggid A maggid ( he, מַגִּיד), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a '' darshan'' (). The title of ...

''.

Biography

Salomon Plessner was born in Breslau to Rabbi Yehuda Plesner, who died when Salomon was young. Having to support his mother and himself, Plessner engaged in business, but found time to study

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

rabbinics Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...

, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, under

Wessely Wessely is the German variant of the Czech surname ''Veselý''. Notable people with the surname include: * Clare Gerada, Lady Wessely (born 1959), British medical doctor * Josephine Wessely (1860–1887), Austrian actress * Karl Wessely (1860–19 ...

's influence. He published in 1819 a Hebrew translation of the Apocryphal additions to the

Book of Esther The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Jewish ''Tanakh'' (the Hebrew Bible). It is one of the fi ...

, under the title ''Hosafah li-Megillat Ester'', with a literary-historical introduction. At the same time he became known as an eloquent ''

''. Many of his

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. E ...

s were published, among them his funeral oration on the death of , under the title ''Zekher Tzaddik li-Brakhah'' (1821). Through his sermons and his close association with Rabbi

Akiva Eger Rabbi Akiva Eiger (, also spelled Eger; , yi, עקיבא אייגער), or Akiva Güns (17611837) was an outstanding Talmudic scholar, influential halakhic decisor and foremost leader of European Jewry during the early 19th century. He was also a ...

, Plessner became known as a defender of

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...

against the growing Reform movement. Forbidden by the police from delivering sermons, he in 1823 settled in Festenberg,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...

. He presented a defense of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

to the Posen government in 1826, prompting the government to revoke a decree forbidding Talmudic instruction in schools. Pressner moved to

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in 1830, where he earned a livelihood by lecturing in the Berlin ''

beit midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knes ...

''. In 1832 his ''Nozelim min Lebanon'' was published, consisting of a Hebrew translation of a part of the

Apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

, with an appendix, entitled ''Duda'im'', containing exegetical notes, verses in Hebrew and German, and sermons. The following year he was invited to dedicate the new synagogue at Bromberg, for which occasion he composed poems in Hebrew and in German, which were published under the title S''hirim la-Ḥanukkat Bet ha-Tefillah'' (1834). He left Berlin and settled in Posen in 1843, where he remained active as a ''maggid'', chiefly at the Neuschul.

References

External links

* at the

Online Books Page The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several fe ...

Digitized works by Salomon Plessner
at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plessner, Salomon 1797 births 1883 deaths 19th-century Jewish biblical scholars 19th-century German rabbis Jewish translators German Orthodox rabbis Hebrew–German translators Translators to Hebrew 19th-century German translators People from Twardogóra