Mendel ben Ḥayyim Judah Bresslau (; 1760–1829) was a
Silesian Hebraist
A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...
, writer, and bookseller.
Along with fellow ''
Maskil
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 Eur ...
''
Isaac Abraham Euchel
Isaac Abraham Euchel ( he, יצחק אייכל; born at Copenhagen, October 17, 1756; died at Berlin, June 14, 1804) was a Hebrew author and founder of the "Haskalah-movement".
He was born in Copenhagen on October 17, 1756. After his bar mitzvah ...
, he founded language in
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
the ''
Me'assefim
The Me'assefim () were a group of Hebrew writers who between 1784 and 1811 published their works in the periodical ''Ha-Me'assef'' (), which they had founded.
History
In 1782 Moses Mendelssohn's German translation of the Pentateuch had appeared. I ...
'' society for the promotion of 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 ...
. He published numerous articles in the organization's periodical, ''Ha-Me'assef'' ('The Collector').
Among other works, Bresslau was the author of an
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
ethical
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
, ''Yaldut u-baḥarut'' ('Childhood and Youth'; Berlin, 1786). He also wrote ''Gelilot Eretz Israel'', a
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
of the
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...
with two maps (Breslau, 1819), and ''Reshit ha-keriah'' (Breslau, 1834), a Hebrew reader and grammar with the
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
method.
Selected publications
*
*
References
1760 births
1829 deaths
Grammarians of Hebrew
Hebraists
Hebrew-language writers
People of the Haskalah
Silesian Jews
Writers from Wrocław
{{Hebrew-lang-stub