Juda Lion Palache (October 26, 1886 – October 18, 1944) was a professor of
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
(
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 ...
,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
) at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
and a leader of the Portuguese Jewish community in that city. He came from the
Pallache family
"Pallache" – also de Palacio(s), Palache, Palaçi, Palachi, Palacci, Palaggi, and many other variations (documented below) – is the surname of a prominent, Ladino-speaking, Sephardic Jewish family from the Iberian Peninsula, who spread mostl ...
.
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Life
Background
Palache was born in Amsterdam on October 26, 1886. His father Isaac was chief rabbi of the Portuguese Sephardic community. His mother was Judith Spinoza Catella Jessurun, likely a descendant of philosopher
Baruch Spinoza.
His ancestors
Samuel Pallache
Samuel Pallache (Arabic: صامويل آل بالاتش, ''Shmuel Baylash'', Hebrew: 'שמואל פאלאץ, ''Shmuel Palach'', c. 1550 – February 4, 1616) was a Jewish Moroccan-born merchant, diplomat, and pirate of the Pallache family, who, ...
and brother Joseph Pallache arrived in the Netherlands from Morocco via Spain and France around 1608.
He first studied at the Ets-Ḥayyim rabbinical seminary. In 1914, he received a Bachelors in Semitic linguistics from the University of Amsterdam and in 1920 a doctorate also in Semitic languages from the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
. He studied under
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (8 February 1857 – 26 June 1936) was a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages and advisor on native affairs to the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
Born in Oosterhout in 1857 ...
.
Career
In 1911, Pallache began working as a grade school teacher of Hebrew and then a high school teacher of classical languages in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
.
In October 1924, he became professor of Semitic languages at the University of Amsterdam, the first Jew to hold this position. Dutch public opposition faded due to his expertise. He remained in this position through 1941.
[
])
During these years at the University of Amsterdam, his chair served two faculties, Arts and Theology.
Associations
Palache was active in the Jewish community, particularly among the Portuguese (''parmas'' of Portuguese Talmud Torah congregation
[
]), Spanish (again, as ''parmas''),
and French communities.
He headed the Dutch Association for Jewish Studies.
Personal and death
In 1917, Palache married Sophia Wilhelmina de Pinto; they had three children.
His children's names were Mozes, Rebeca, and Isaac (Leon).
He was not Orthodox.
He was a staunch
anti-Zionist.
After Nazi Germany's occupation of Holland in 1940, he had to register as a Jew. He joined the , infamous for its appointments by the Germans to handle Jewish affairs and send them East.
In early 1944, the whole family was deported to the
Theresienstadt ghetto
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination ca ...
. Later, they were transported to
Auschwitz for extermination, where on October 18, 1944, they were murdered.
Legacy
Much of Palache's work on semantics went missing during World War II.
Younger son Leo Palache survived Auschwitz. He became an ardent Zionist and worked with the Dutch branch of
Keren Hayesod
Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal ( he, קרן היסוד, literally "The Foundation Fund") is an official fundraising organization for Israel with branches in 45 countries. Its work is carried out in accordance with the Keren haYesod Law-5 ...
.
Palache's university successor, M.A. Been, said of him: ''Voor mijn voorganger in Amsterdam, de joodse geleerde Palache, die de gehele Biblia Hebraica uit zijn hoofd kende'' ("For my predecessor in Amsterdam, the Jewish scholar Palache, knew all the Biblia Hebraica from his head"). Professor Been has been credited with the founding of the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
, though others give that credit to Palache.
In 1991, K.A.D. Smelik dedicated his book ''Converting the Past'' to Palache.
Juda Palache Instituut
Leo Palache established the Juda Palache Instituut at the University of Amsterdam.
Leeser-Rosenthal/Juda Palache-lectures
From 2000 to 2016, the Menasseh ben Israel Institute held an annual Leeser Rosenthal/Juda Palache lecture by internationally renowned researchers in Jewish studies. The lectures occurred with the cooperation of the chair of Hebrew and Jewish studies at the University of Amsterdam (the Juda Palache Institute) and the
Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana
The Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana is the Jewish cultural and historical collection of the University of Amsterdam Special Collections. The foundation of the collection is the personal library of Leeser Rosenthal, whose heirs presented the collection ...
.
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Works
Works published in Palache's lifetime:
* ''Het heiligdom in de voorstelling der Semietische volken'': academisch proefschrift ... Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden … 19 januari 1920 (Leiden: Brill, 1920)
* ''Inleiding in den Talmoed'' (Introduction to the Talmus) (19803, 19542
922
__NOTOC__
Year 922 ( CMXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Summer – Battle of Constantinople: Emperor Romanos I sends Byza ...
* ''Het karakter van het oud-testamentische verhaal'': Rede uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het hoogleraarambt aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1925; later included in ''Sinai en Paran'', below)
* ''De sabbath-idee buiten het Jodendom'': Voordracht gehouden in de vierde jaarvergadering van het Genootschap voor de Joodsche Wetenschap in Nederland (Joodsche volksbibliotheek 2; Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1925)
* ''Kalenderhervorming'' (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1930)
* ''De hebreeuwsche litteratuur van den na-talmoedischen tijd tot op onze dagen in schetsen en vertalingen'' (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1935)
* ''Over beteekenisverandering der woorden in het Hebreeuws (Semietisch) en andere talen'': Een vergelijkende studie (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1939)
Posthumously published works:
* ''Sinai en Paran. Opera minora van wijlen Dr. J.L. Palache'', edited by M. Reizel (Leiden: Brill, 1959)
* '' Semantic notes on the Hebrew lexicon'' (Leiden: Brill, 1959)
See also
*
Ladino language
*
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
*
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
*
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
*
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
*
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
*
History of the Jews in the Netherlands
The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the J ...
*
Pallache family
"Pallache" – also de Palacio(s), Palache, Palaçi, Palachi, Palacci, Palaggi, and many other variations (documented below) – is the surname of a prominent, Ladino-speaking, Sephardic Jewish family from the Iberian Peninsula, who spread mostl ...
*
Haim Palachi
Haim Palachi ( he, חיים פלאג'י yi, חיים פאלאדזשי; Acronym: MaHaRHaF or HaVIF) (January 28, 1788– February 10, 1868)
was a Jewish- Turkish chief rabbi of Smyrna (İzmir) and author in Ladino
and Hebrew. His titles include ...
*
Abraham Palacci
Abraham Palacci (1809 or 1810–January 2, 1898) was a grand rabbi and author (in Ladino and Hebrew) of Ottoman Smyrna which is now Izmir. He was the son of grand rabbi Haim Palachi and brother of grand rabbi Rahamim Nissim Palacci and rabbi J ...
*
Rahamim Nissim Palacci Rahamim Nissim Isaac Palacci (also "Palaggi," "Palagi," "Falaji," and many variations) (1813–1907) was a rabbi and author in Izmir, Turkey, and descendant of the Pallache family.
Life
Palacci was born in Izmir, the son of grand rabbi Haim Palac ...
*
Joseph Palacci Joseph Palacci (also "Palaggi", "Palagi", and many variations) (1815–1896) was a rabbi and author in Ladino and Hebrew in Izmir and was a descendant of the Pallache family.
Life
Palacci was born in Izmir in 1815, the third and youngest son of g ...
*
Samuel Pallache
Samuel Pallache (Arabic: صامويل آل بالاتش, ''Shmuel Baylash'', Hebrew: 'שמואל פאלאץ, ''Shmuel Palach'', c. 1550 – February 4, 1616) was a Jewish Moroccan-born merchant, diplomat, and pirate of the Pallache family, who, ...
*
Samuel ha-Levi
Samuel ben Meir Ha-Levi Abulafia (Úbeda, approx. 1320 - Seville, 1360), was the treasurer of king Pedro I "the Cruel" of Castile and founder of the Synagogue of El Transito in Toledo, Spain.
He was a member of the powerful Abulafia family, whi ...
*
Pallache (surname) ''(Previously, this page expanded into a family history–now in separate entry: q.v. "Pallache family.")''
The Pallache (see Pallache family for many spellings of name) are a Sephardic Jewish family who originated on the Iberian Peninsula, sprea ...
References
External sources
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*
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* M.A. Beek, "Life Message about the author", in: JL Palache, ''Introduction to the Talmud'' (1980 3 1954 2
922
__NOTOC__
Year 922 ( CMXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Summer – Battle of Constantinople: Emperor Romanos I sends Byza ...
, IX-XIV
* M. Reizel, "Introduction", in M. Reizel (ed.), in ''Sinai and Paran'' (Leiden: Brill, 1959), pages 9–12
*
* A. Dicou, "Preliminarily Education in biblical Hebrew at the Municipal University of Amsterdam" in KA Deurloo & FJ Hoogewoud (ed.) ''Starting with the letter Beth.'' Drawing on Biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible Dr Aleida G. van Daalen (Kampen: Cook, 1985), pages 17–26
* H.J. Franken, "JL Palache (1886-1944), professor of Semitic languages, in: J. Rose, A. Schppers & JW Wesselius (ed.) Three hundred years of oriental languages in Amsterdam. Create a collection (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, 1986), pages 86-90
* KAD Smelik, "Tales in the Hebrew Bible. The approach of the biblical story by Palache, Brook and his disciples" in K.A. Deurloo, BPM Hemelsoet, et al. (Eds.), Cahier 9 (''Amsterdam Cahiers for exegesis and biblical theology 9'' (Kampen: Cook, 1988) pages 8–21
* U.W.F. Bauer, כל הדברים האלה - All diese worte: Impulse zur Schriftauslegung aus Amsterdam. Expliziert an der Schilfmeererzählung in Exodus 13.17 to 14.31 (Europäische Hochschulschriften XXIII (Theology) 442, Frankfurt am Main
tc. Lang, 1991), 105-110
* C. Housman, ''Der Pentateuch: die Geschichte seiner Erforschung neben einer Auswertung'' (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 9 (Kampen: Cook Pharos, 1994), pages 271–272
* Kessler, ''Voices from Amsterdam: A Modern Tradition of Reading Biblical Narrative'' (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), pages ix–xxiv
* I.E. Zwiep, "Between Theology and Literature: Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam" in P.J. Knegtmans & P. Rooden (ed.), ''Theologians in Ondertal: Theology, religious studies, the Athenaeum Illustre and the University of Amsterdam'' (Zoetermeer: Meinema, 2003), pages 109–122, 113–117
* J.C. Siebert-Hommes, "The Amsterdam School" in P.J. Knegtmans & P. Rooden (ed.), ''Theologians in Ondertal: Theology, Religious Studies, the Athenaeum Illustre and the University of Amsterdam'' (Zoetermeer: Meinema, 2003), pages 177–196, 177–179
* A.W. Zwiep, ''Between Text and Reader. Part II: from modernity to postmodernity. A historical introduction to biblical hermeneutics'' (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2013), 112
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Palache, Juda Lion
1886 births
1944 deaths
Sephardi Jews who died in the Holocaust
University of Amsterdam faculty
20th-century Dutch writers
Dutch people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp
Dutch civilians killed in World War II
Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust
Dutch Sephardi Jews
Dutch people of Portuguese-Jewish descent
Jewish Dutch writers
Stateless people
Jewish Council of Amsterdam