Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1873–1942) was an American Judaica scholar and author who served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College and composed responsa for the

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

movement in America. He specialized in

Midrashic ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

and

Talmudical 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 cente ...

literature, and is best known for his landmark critical edition and English translation of the

Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael ( arc, מְכִילְתָּא דְּרַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל IPA /məˈχiltɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation") is midrash halakha to the Book of Exodus. The Jewish Babylonian Aramaic title ' ...

Life and work

Jacob Z. Lauterbach was first and foremost a talmudist . However, he was thoroughly familiar with all the modern techniques of critical scholarship, including manuscript comparison and decryption. After retiring from his position at Hebrew Union College, he continued to live at the College and to mentor students. He was the author of several books besides the three-volume ''Mekilta'', and was a prolific contributor to the '' Jewish Encyclopedia'', for which he authored or co-authored 260 articles, which are listed in and online at the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'''s page for th
contributions of J.Z. Lauterbach
He additionally contributed 17 articles to the

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 ...

''Otzar Yisrael'' encyclopedia of

Julius Eisenstein Julius (Judah David) Eisenstein (November 12, 1854 – May 17, 1956) ( he, יהודה דוד אייזנשטיין) was a Polish-Jewish-American anthologist, diarist, encyclopedist, Hebraist, historian, philanthropist, and Orthodox polemicist b ...

, which are also listed in . Among his scholarly publications may be listed the following. Again, the full list is provided in . *"The Talmud and Reform Judaism" (1911), ''American Israelite'' 58(18):p. 1. *"The attitude of the Jew towards the non-Jew" (1921), ''C.C.A.R. Yearbook'' 31:186–233. *"A significant controversy between the Sadducees and the Pharisees" (1927), '' HUCA'' 4:173–205. *"Is it permissible to let a non-Jewish contractor, building a synagogue, work on the building on the Sabbath?" responsum(1927), ''C.C.A.R. Yearbook'' 37:202–206. *"Should one cover the head when participating in divine worship?" responsum(1928), ''C.C.A.R. Yearbook'' 38:589–603. *"Talmudic-rabbinic view on birth control" responsum(1927), ''C.C.A.R. Yearbook'' 37:369–384. *''Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael: A Critical Edition on the Basis of the Manuscripts and Early Editions with an English Translation, Introduction, and Notes'' (1933)

References

*. *. 1873 births 1942 deaths Hebrew Union College faculty American Jews Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary alumni {{Judaism-bio-stub