David ben Naphtali Fränkel or David Hirschel Fränkel ( he, דוד בן נפתלי הירש פרנקל; 1704 – 4 April 1762), was a German

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Biography

Born in Berlin, for a time he was rabbi of Dessau. He became chief rabbi of Berlin in 1742. Fränkel exercised a great influence as teacher over

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or ' ...

, who followed him to the Prussian capital. It was Fränkel who introduced Mendelssohn to

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

' '' Moreh Nevuchim,'' and it was he, too, who befriended his poor disciple, procuring for him free lodging and a few days' board every week in the house of Hayyim Bamberger. His grandson was Jonah Frankel, the German Jewish businessman, banker and philanthropist. As a

Talmudist 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 center ...

, Frankel was almost the first to devote himself to a study of the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

, which had been largely neglected.

Writings

He gave a great impetus to the study of this work by his Korban ha-Edah ("The Communal Sacrifice"), a commentary in three parts. His additional notes on the Jerusalem Talmud and on Maimonides were published, together with the preceding work, under the title ''Shirei Korban'' (Dessau, 1743).''A guide to the Jerusalem Talmud'' Heshey Zelcer Page 158 2002 "His other commentary on the Yerushalmi is Shirei Korban (See below). R. Fraenkel published his work with the text of the Yerushalmi in three volumes: Volume I in Dessau, 1743, and Volumes II and III in Berlin, in 1757 and in 1762." Amid the turmoil of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

, he delivered a sermon with the following title: :„Eine Danck-Predigt wegen des wichtigen und wundervollen Siegs : welchen Sr. Königl. Maj. in Preussen am 5ten December, 1757, über die, der Anzahl nach ihm weit überlegene, gesamte oesterreichische Armee in Schlesien, preisswürdig erfochten". Gehalten am Sabbath den 10ten desselben Monats in der Juden Schule zu Berlin, von David Hirschel Fränckel, Ober Rabbi ["A Thanksgiving Sermon, for the Important and Astonishing Victory Obtain’d on 5 December 1757, by the Glorious King of Prussia, over the United and Far Superior Forces of the Austrians in Silesia." Preach’d on the Sabbath of the 10th of the Said Month, at the Synagogue of the Jews in Berlin, by David Hirschel Franckel, Arch-Rabbi].

References

Its bibliography: * Chaim Joseph David Azulai, Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. 94 * Eliakim Carmoly, Notices Biographiques, in Revue Orientale, iii. 315 * Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 882 * G. Karpeles, Gesch. der Jüdischen Litteratur, pp. 1060, 1071, 1100 * J. H. Dessauer, Gesch. der Israeliten, p. 498 *

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielko ...

, Hist. v. 293-294 *

Leser Landshuth Leser Landshuth (15 January 1817 – 23 March 1887) was a German Jewish liturgiologist. He went to Berlin as a youth to study Jewish theology, and there he became acquainted with Leopold Zunz and Abraham Geiger, the latter of whom was then stayin ...

, Toledot Anshe ha-Shem, pp. 35 et seq., Berlin, 1884 * Meyer Kayserling, Moses Mendelssohn, pp. 9 et seq., Leipzig, 1862 {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, David ben Naphtali 1700s births 1762 deaths 18th-century German rabbis German Orthodox rabbis Rabbis from Berlin People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Authors of works on the Jerusalem Talmud Hebrew-language writers