David Oppenheim (1664 – 12 September 1736) was the chief rabbi of

Nikolsburg Mikulov (; german: Nikolsburg; yi, ניקאלשבורג, ''Nikolshburg'') is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and i ...

in 1689 and later of

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 ...

. His book collection constitutes an important part 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 ...

section of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Personal background

Oppenheim was born in 1664 in

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

, where his father, Abraham, was a communal leader. David Oppenheim's teachers included

Gershon Ashkenazi Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi was a Polish Talmudist who studied under Joel Sirkis. He was also a talmid of the Maharam Shif, and the Rabbi Heschel of Kraków. During his lifetime, Ashkenazi was a recognized authority in Talmudic law. Ashkenazi aut ...

and Ya'akov Sack (father of

Tzvi Ashkenazi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi ( he, צבי אשכנזי; 1656 – May 2, 1718), known as the Chacham Tzvi after his responsa by the same title, served for some time as rabbi of Amsterdam. He was a resolute opponent of the followers of the fal ...

, the Chacham Tzvi). In 1681, he married Gnendl, daughter of the "

court Jew In the early modern period, a court Jew, or court factor (german: Hofjude, Hoffaktor; yi, היף איד, Hoyf Id, קאַורט פאַקטאַר, ''Kourt Faktor''), was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European, main ...

" Leffmann Behrends (Lipmann Cohen) of Hanover. His extraordinary collection of manuscripts and prints was bought by the

in Oxford in 1829 for 9,000 thalers.Marx 1944, p. 254.

References

Bibliography

Alexander Marx Alexander Marx (1878–1953) was an American historian, bibliographer and librarian. Biography Born in Elberfeld, Germany, son of George Marx, a banker, and Gertrud Marx-Simon, a published poet. Alexander Marx grew up in Königsberg ( East Pruss ...

, “The History of David Oppenheimer's Library”, in Id., ''Studies in Jewish History and Booklore'', The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York 1944, pp. 238–255. Teplitsky, Joshua, ''Prince of the Press. How One Collector Built History’s Most Enduring and Remarkable Jewish Library'',

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, New Haven & London 2019.

External links

* 1664 births 1736 deaths Rabbis from Worms, Germany Chief rabbis of cities Czech rabbis {{Germany-rabbi-stub Rabbis of Prague