Josef Flesch (; 19 September 1781 – 17 December 1839) was

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

n writer, translator, and merchant. He has been called the "father of the Moravian

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 ...

Biography

Josef Flesch was born in Neu-Rausnitz,

, the son of local rabbi Abraham Flesch. He attended

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

with his father's childhood friend,

Baruch Jeitteles Baruch Jeitteles ( he, ברוך ייטלס) (22 April 1762 – 18 December 1813) was a Jewish scholar, writer, and doctor from Bohemia, associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement (''Haskalah''). His teachers were Rabbi Yechezkel Landau of ...

. After marrying the daughter of Salomon Berger in Leipnik in 1801 and spending three years in the house of his father-in-law, he returned to his hometown and joined his father's business. He was a frequent contributor to the ''

Bikkure ha-Ittim ''Bikkure ha-Ittim'' () was a Hebrew-language annual published in Vienna from 1820 to 1831. Founded by Salomon Jacob Cohen, it was adopted by the Galician Maskilim as their means to promote culture and education among Galician Jews. The publicatio ...

'', and translated into

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 ...

several of the writings of

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's deplo ...

, notably ''Quis rerum divinarum heres sit'' (under the title ''Ha-yoresh divre Elohim'', Prague, 1830) and ''De vita Moysis'' (under the title ''Ḥayye Moshe'', Prague, 1838). To the former work was added the

oration Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

which Flesch delivered at his father's funeral. His other publications include a Hebrew translation of philosopher Karl Heinrich Heydenreich, and a list of Jewish scientists under the title ''Reshimat anshe mofet'' (Prague, 1838).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flesch, Josef 1781 births 1839 deaths Jewish translators Latin–Hebrew translators People of the Haskalah Moravian Jews Moravian writers People from Rousínov Translators from German