Michael Levi Rodkinson (1845 – January 4, 1904) was a Jewish scholar, an early Hasidic historiographer and an American publisher. Rodkinson is known for being the first to translate the

Babylonian 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 cent ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Rodkinson’s literary works cover topics in Hasidic historiography as well as Judaic studies associated with the Haskalah movement.

Biography

Born in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

with the surname "Frumkin", Michael Levi was the son of Alexander Sender Frumkin and half brother of Israel Dov Bär Frumkin, the editor of '' The Havatzeleth'' newspaper in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Arieh Tzvi Hirsch Frumkin and Guishe Frumkin-Navon. Rodkinson's mother was Radka Chayah Horowitz (1802–47) who died at an early age when he was still young. Michael Levi was named after his grandfather, Aaron ha-Levi ben Moses of Staroselye, a prominent rabbi of the

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...

movement, who created his own Hasidic group in Usha and then in Starosjle. Michael grew up in a Hasidic

atmosphere. He changed his name to Rodkinson (after his mother's name "Radka") for unknown reasons. He lived in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for a period of time where he published some of his books, then moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where he worked as a publisher. Among his works is an uncompleted translation of the Babylonian Talmud to English. The translation was harshly reviewed, eliciting the derision of talmudists such as

Kaufmann Kohler Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Kauf ...

, who labeled Rodkinson a "sham scholar" for the many apparently misinformed or naive translations of common talmudical terms.

Ephraim Deinard Ephraim Deinard (1846–1930) was one of the greatest Hebrew "bookmen" of all time. He was a bookseller, bibliographer, publicist, polemicist, historian, memoirist, author, editing, editor, and publisher, all rolled into one. Deinard produced s ...

was a critic of Rodkinson and is described as a literary adversary. Rabbi

Isaac M. Wise Isaac Mayer Wise (29 March 1819, Lomnička – 26 March 1900, Cincinnati) was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author. At his death he was called "the foremost rabbi in America". Early life Wise was born on 29 March 1819 in Steingrub in B ...

publically defended Rodkinson after he faced criticism in the pages of the American Jewish press.Wise, I. M. (1894). "In Defense of M. L. Rodkinson". ''The American Israelite'' (Cincinnati, Ohio), Thursday, February 01, 1894. Page 4. Rodkinson collected many stories from his childhood amongst the Hassidim, and compiled these into books that he later published. These were among the first books to tell stories in

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 ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

. (Until then, Hebrew was mostly used as a kind of Jewish and Rabbinic lingua franca for works of scholarship in letters,

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 ...

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

, philosophy, ethics,

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...

, and hassidut while

was used as a spoken language by Jews across

Ashkenaz Ashkenaz ( he, ''ʾAškənāz'') in the Hebrew Bible is one of the descendants of Noah. Ashkenaz is the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. In rabbinic literature, the descendants of Ashkenaz were first ass ...

.) Rodkinson married three times; his oldest child with his first wife was Rosamond Rodkinson. She helped her father translate the Talmud and also traveled the world to gather support. His next child with his second wife was his son Max Rodkinson, a famous actor of the

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic rev ...

in New York. Max changed his name to "Rudolph Marks" because his father did not want him to use the "Rodkinson" name as a Yiddish actor. After a few years of acting he left the stage and became a lawyer, taking back his original name. His third child also from his second wife was Norbert Mortimer Rodkinson, who also helped his father translate the Talmud into English. Michael Levi Rodkinson had another son and two daughters with his third wife.

Published works

* ''Sefer Adas Tzaddikim'' (Lemberg 1869) * ''Toldot Baalei Shem Tov'' (Konigsberg, 1876) * ''Toldot Amudei HaChabad'' [History of the Pillars of

] (Konigsberg, 1876) * ''Tefilah le-Mosheh (mi-Kutsi): Toldot ha-tefillin ve-korotehen'' (Pressburg 1883) * ''Eben Haroscha: Verschiedene Ausichten betreffs der Reform des Jüdischen ritualgesetzes der "Judenfrage" und deren Lösung'' ifferent views on the reform of the Jewish ritual law of the "Jewish question" and its solution(Berlin 1884) * ''Der Shulchan Aruch und seine Beziehungen zu den Juden und nichtJuden'' (Vienna, 1883–87) * ''History of amulets, charms, and talismans : a historical investigation into their nature and origin'' (New York: 1893) * ''The Pentateuch, its Languages and its Characters: A Treatise Upon the Original Language and the Early Translations of the Pentateuch into Greek and Aramaic'' (Chicago: Bloch and Co., 1894) * ''New edition of the Babylonian Talmud'' (New York, New Talmud Pub. Co., 1901)

Gallery

Notes

References

* Jonatan Meir, Literary Hasidism: The Life and Works of Michael Levi Rodkinson, Syracuse University Press, 2016 * Goldman, Yosef. '' Hebrew Printing in America, 1735-1926, A History and Annotated Bibliography'' (YGBooks 2006). .
''Israel Dov Frumkin''
Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-08-03. * Jonatan Meir. Michael Levi Rodkinson and Hasidism, Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2012, 248 pp. (Hebrew) *
Rodkinson's translation (incomplete)

External links

Digitised books by Rodkinson via UPenn
from the

Internet Sacred Text Archive The Internet Sacred Text Archive (ISTA) is a Santa Cruz, California-based website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain religious texts. History The website was first opened to the public on March 9, 1999 by John Bruno Hare ...

. Accessed 2007-08-03. * Jonatan Meir
"Stations in the Life of Michael Levi Rodkinson: Prolegomena to a Biography"
GAL-ED 22 (2010), pp. 13–44 * Jonatan Meir
Michael Levi Rodkinson and Hasidism
Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodkinson, Michael Levi 1845 births 1904 deaths 19th-century translators American Orthodox Jews Chabad history Jewish translators Talmud translators Talmudists Translators from Hebrew Translators to English