Morris Jastrow, Jr.
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Morris Jastrow Jr. (August 13, 1861 – June 22, 1921) was a Polish-born American orientalist and librarian associated with the University of Pennsylvania.


Biography

He was born in
Warsaw, Poland Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-cen ...
, and came to Philadelphia in 1866 when his father, Marcus Jastrow, a renowned Talmudic scholar, accepted a position as Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom. He was educated in the schools of Philadelphia, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881. His original intention was to become a
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 o ...
. For this purpose, he carried on theological studies at the Jewish Seminary of Breslau in Germany while pursuing the study of Semitic languages at German universities. He traveled to Europe and studied at the University of Leipzig, where he received his Ph.D. in 1884. He then spent another year in the study of Semitic languages at the Sorbonne, the Collège de France and the École des Langues Orientales Levant Vivantes. On his return to the United States in 1885, he was appointed assistant to his father in Philadelphia, which position he voluntarily resigned after one year. His farewell sermon, entitled "Jews and Judaism" was generally understood to be a personal repudiation of traditional Judaism. He went on to devote himself entirely to linguistic and archaeological studies. He gradually extended his field to include the history of religions. He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1885 as an instructor of Semitic languages, and became professor of Semitic languages in 1891. In 1888, he became a librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, becoming librarian-in-chief in 1898. He was president of the American Oriental Society 1914-15, and of the
Society of Biblical Literature The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...
in 1916. He died in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, in 1921. He contributed articles to, and was one of the editors of the scholarly ''
Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
'' published 1901-1906 by the Jewish Publication Society; he was, as well, a contributor to the '' Encyclopaedia Biblica'' (1903), the '' Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th edition), the ''New International Encyclopaedia'' and '' Webster's Dictionary''. He edited a fragment of the Babylonian Dibbarra Epic (1891); the Arabic text of the grammatical treatises of
Abu Zakariyya Hayyug Abu or ABU may refer to: Places * Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan * Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan * Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria * Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...
(1897); ''Selected Essays of
James Darmesteter James Darmesteter (28 March 184919 October 1894) was a French author, orientalist, and antiquarian. Biography He was born of Jewish parents at Château-Salins, in Lorraine. The family name had originated in their earlier home of Darmstadt. He was ...
'' (with a memoir; translation of the essays from the original French by Helen Bachman Jastrow (Mrs. Morris Jastrow, Jr.), 1895); and a series of ''Handbooks on the History of Religion''. A bibliography of his books, monographs and papers, covering the years 1885-1916, was compiled and published (for private circulation) by A. T. Clay and J. A. Montgomery. Among his students was Dr.
Pezavia O'Connell Pezavia O’Connell (1861–1930) was a Methodist minister, scholar of Hebrew, educator, and African-American activist. He was the first African American to earn a PhD in Semitic languages, which he was awarded at University of Pennsylvania in 189 ...
, the first African-American scholar to earn a PhD in Semitic languages. In 1898, O'Connell wrote a dissertation under Jastrow's supervision at the University of Pennsylvania, entitled, ''Synonyms of the Unclean & the Clean in Hebrew''.


Works

* ** Volume 2 was published in 1912. This work is an enlarged and entirely rewritten German edition of the English edition, together with a separate volume of illustrations bearing on the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians (3 volumes altogether). * (also published NYC: Charles Scribner's Sons) * * * ''Babylonian-Assyrian Birth Omens and Their Cultural Significance'' (1914) * ''The Civil Law of
Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
and Assyria'' (1915) * * * * * * ''The Eastern Question and its Solution'' (1920) * * ''An Assyrian Law Code'' (1921) Ann Arbor: Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1921.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jastrow, Morris, Jr. 1861 births 1921 deaths American Assyriologists American librarians American orientalists American people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish American writers Leipzig University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Assyriologists