Jacob ben Hayyim ben Isaac ibn Adonijah or Jacob ben Chayyim (c. 1470 – before 1538), was a scholar of the
Masoretic
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
(hence sometimes called Tunisi), he left his native country to escape the persecutions that broke out there at the beginning of the sixteenth century. After residing at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
he settled at
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, where he was engaged as corrector of the Hebrew press of
Daniel Bomberg
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
. Late in life he embraced Christianity. Jacob's name is known chiefly in connection with his edition of the Rabbinical Bible (1524–25), which he supplied with Masoretic notes and an introduction which discusses the Masorah, ''qere'' and ''ketib'', and the discrepancies between the
Talmud
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 ce ...
ists and the Masorah. The value of his activity as a Masorite was recognized even by
Elijah Levita
Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...
, who, however, often finds fault with his selections.
Jacob's introduction to the Rabbinical Bible was translated into Latin by Claude Capellus in 1667,"De Mari Rabbinico Infido," vol. ii., ch. 4, Paris, 1667 and into English by Christian D. Ginsburg (Longman, 1865). Jacob also wrote a dissertation on the
Targum
A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...
, prefixed to the 1527 and 1543-44 editions of the
Pentateuch
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
, and published extracts from Moses ha-Nakdan's ''Darke ha-Nikkud weha- Neginot'', a work on the accents. He revised the ''
editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand.
For ...
'' 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 ...
(1523), of
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 Torah ...
' ''
Yad
A yad (, literally "hand"; ''hant'', "hand") is a Jewish ritual pointer, popularly known as a Torah pointer, used by the reader to follow the text during the Torah reading from the parchment Torah scrolls. It is often shaped like a long rod, cap ...
'', and of many other works from Bomberg's press.
Works
*C.D. Ginsburg, ''Jacob ben Chajim ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible'', London: Longman, 1865; reprinted with the ''Masoret ha-Masoret'' of
Elias Levita
Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...
*De Rossi, ''Dizionario'', p. 322;
*Nepi-Ghirondi, ''Toledot Gedole Yisrael'', p. 197;
*Christian D. Ginsburg, ''Massoret ha-Massoret'', pp. 33–34, London, 1867;
*Oẓar Neḥmad, iii.112;
*Steinschneider, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 1205;
*
Fürst
' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German word for a ruler and is also a princely title. ' were, since the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of ...