Iuliu Barasch or Baraş (17 July 1815 – 31 March 1863) was a Galician-born

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish physician, philosopher, pedagogue and promoter of Romanian culture and science who made his career in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He played a leading role in disseminating the ideas of the ''

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

'', or Jewish Enlightenment, among the Jews of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

.Feldman, Eliyahu, and Lucian-Zeev Herscovici. "Barasch, Julius." ''

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-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, holidays, langua ...

''. 2nd ed. Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. Vol. 3, pp. 134-135. Retrieved via ''Gale eBooks'' database, 2020-06-26; also available online vi
Encyclopedia.com

Biography

Yehuda ben Mordehai Barasch was born in

Brody Brody ( uk, Броди; russian: Броды, Brodï; pl, Brody; german: Brody; yi, בראָד, Brod) is a city in Zolochiv Raion of Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately ...

, Galicia (present-day western

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, then in the possession of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

), on 17 July 1815 into a

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

family. As a youth he had a traditional Jewish education, before eventually engaging with the ideas of the ''

''. He studied philosophy from 1836 at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

and in 1839 changed to a doctorate of medicine at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, which he completed in 1841. Barasch tried to settle in

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

, but the authorities refused to give him the licence to practice medicine, so he settled in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

. In 1842, he was a physician in Călăraşi, then in 1845, in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

and finally settling in

. He taught

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s at the Saint Sava Academy in 1852 and then was a professor at Bucharest's School of Medicine and Pharmacy. Beside working as a doctor, he became a

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

and ardent Romanian

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

. A friend of

C.A. Rosetti Constantin Alexandru Rosetti (; 2 June 1816 – 8 April 1885) was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into the princely Rosetti family. Biography Before 1848 Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was born in Bucharest, the so ...

and

Ion Heliade Rădulescu Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade (also known as ''Eliade'' or ''Eliade Rădulescu''; ; January 6, 1802 – April 27, 1872) was a Wallachian, later Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writ ...

. He was a popularizer of

medical science Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

and of natural science in general, and the first

Jewish Romanian The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

journalist. In 1856—1859 he edited a journal ''Isis sau Natura'' (''

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

or Nature''), the first

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

magazine in Romania. The magazine published studies of astronomy, hypothetical articles about the plurality of worlds or about the most popular inventions of the time, such as

aerostat An aerostat (, via French) is a lighter-than-air aircraft that gains its lift through the use of a buoyant gas. Aerostats include unpowered balloons and powered airships. A balloon may be free-flying or tethered. The average density of the cra ...

and " submarine ships".

Florin Manolescu The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...

, ''Literatura S.F.'', Editura Univers, Bucharest, 1980, p. 209-210 In 1858, Barasch was also the founder of the first

children's hospital A children's hospital is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In certain special cases, they may also treat adults. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th ...

in Bucharest. In 1857, together with Aaron Aser and A. Vainberg, Barasch edited '' Israelitul Român'' ("''The Romanian Israelite''"), the first Romanian-language newspaper of the Jewish community in Romania, that was to remain in print for almost 100 years. He died in Bucharest on 31 March 1863, at the age of 47. He was buried in Bucharest in the Jewish cemetery on Sevastopol Street. After the abolition of this cemetery in the 1940s during the

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

regime, his tomb was moved to the Philanthropy Cemetery and appeared on the List of Historical Monuments in Bucharest (2004). He is memorialized in Bucharest's historically Jewish Văcăreşti neighborhood, where the ''Baraşeum Theater'', now home to the State Jewish Theater, the adjoining Baraşeum clinic, and the street that runs in front of the theater, formerly Ionescu de la Brad, now str. Dr. Iuliu Barasch all being named in his honour.

Publications

Books

*''Minunile naturei'' (3 vol., 1852) *''Mineralogia, după Belez'' (1854) *''Asfixia sau leşinul'' (1854) *''Botanica, după Belez'' (1856) *''Higiena populară'' (1857) *''Zoologia'' (1857) *''Debora'', melodrama (1858) *''Cărticica altoiului'' (1859) *''Manual de silvicultură'' (1861)

Journals

*''Isis sau Natura'' (1856-1859) *''Natura'' (1861-1863) *''Israelitul Român'' (1857-)

References

Bibliography

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
* Bercovici, Israil, ''O sută de ani de teatru evreiesc în România'' ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language edition, revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest (1998), 185. . ''See the article on the author for further publication information.'' * Dimitrie R. Rosetti (1897) ''Dicţionarul contimporanilor'', Editura Lito-Tipografiei "Populara" *

, ''Literatura S.F.'', Editura Univers, Bucharest, 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Barasch, Iuliu Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders 19th-century Romanian physicians Romanian scientists Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) 1815 births 1863 deaths 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century male writers People of the Haskalah