Yosef Rosenthal (; 14 February 1844 – 22 November 1913) was a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

Hebrew writer and lawyer.

Biography

Born in Suwałki, Russian Poland, Rosenthal began the study of the Talmud and commentaries at an early age without the aid of a teacher, and at the same time devoted himself to the study of different languages and sciences. In the 1890s he settled at Warsaw to practise law. Rosenthal began his literary career in 1866 by contributing philological articles to ''

Ha-Maggid ''Hamagid'' (; ), also known after 1893 as ''Hamagid LeIsrael'' (), was the first Hebrew language weekly newspaper. It featured mostly current events, feature articles, a section on Judaic studies, and, in its heyday, discussions of social issues. ...

''. He went on to write on science and current events for such Hebrew periodicals as ''

Ha-Levanon ''Ha-Levanon'' () was the first Hebrew-language newspaper to be published in the Land of Israel. Published between 1863 and 1886, its chief editor was . ''Ha-Levanon'' was distributed in Jerusalem, Paris, Mainz and London. History ''Ha-Levan ...

'', '' Ha-Karmel'', and '' Ha-Melitz''. The most important of his contributions is an article on the religious system of the ''

Sefer Yetzirah ''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is the title of a book on Jewish mysticism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed ...

'', in ' (1887), and some articles in ', a Hebrew

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

(1887–88). He wrote also some

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

, one of which was published in ''Dibre Mosheh'' by Rabbi Moses of Namoset; and ''Derekh Emunah'', four essays on religious philosophy (Warsaw, 1894). He was noted as a

chess player This list of chess players includes people who are primarily known as chess players and have an article on the English Wikipedia. A * Jacob Aagaard (Denmark, Scotland, born 1973) * Manuel Aaron (India, born 1935) * Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, bor ...

, and won the first prize at the Druzgenik tournament in 1885.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Joseph 1844 births 1913 deaths 19th-century chess players 19th-century Polish lawyers 19th-century Polish male writers Hebrew-language writers Jewish Polish writers People from Suwałki Philosophers of Judaism