Solomon Judah Löb HaKohen Rapoport ( he, שלמה יהודה כהן רפאפורט; June 1, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was a Galician and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

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 ...

and Jewish scholar. Rapoport was known by an acronym "Shir", שי"ר occasionally שיל"ר, formed by the initial letters of his Hebrew name "Sh"elomo "Y"ehuda "R"apoport. Shir literally means "song" in Hebrew. He was one of the founders of the new

Wissenschaft des Judentums "''Wissenschaft des Judentums''" (Literally in German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the US it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquiry in American Universities) ...

movement.

Life

He was born in Lemberg,

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

. His father, Rabbi Aharon Hayim

Rappaport The Rappaport family (Hebrew: רפפורט; Yiddish: ראפאפארט) is a prominent Kohanic rabbinic family, who are generally considered to possess the oldest and best recorded Kohanic pedigree. The modern origins of the family can be traced ...

was a renowned scholar, and his primary teacher. Rappaport was also recognized as an ''

illui ''Illui'' ( he, עילוי or עלוי also ilui; pronounced plural: ''illuim'') is a young Torah and Talmudic prodigy or genius. The Hebrew term and title is applied to exceptional Talmudic scholars among Orthodox Jews. It is used among Engli ...

''. In 1810, he married Franziska Freide Heller, the daughter of the well-known

Aryeh Leib Heller Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller ( 1745 – 1812) ( he, אריה לייב בן יוסף הכהן הלר) was a Rabbi, Talmudist, and Halachist in Galicia. He was known as "the ''Ketzos''" based on his magnum opus, '' Ketzot Hachoshen'', . Biography Bo ...

. He died in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. After various experiences in business, Rapoport became rabbi of

Tarnopol Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

(1837) and of

(1840). He had been "thrown upon his own resources" about 1817, and became the collector of the meat-tax on farmers. Because of his work on

Saadia Gaon Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

, see below, he received recognition in the scholarly world and gained "many enthusiastic friends", especially S. D. Luzzatto, leading to his appointment as Rabbi.

Works

He was instrumental in publishing his father-in-law's work ''Avnei Miluim'', writing the index, sources, and numerous comments. His chief work was the first part of an ( unfinished) encyclopaedia "Erekh Millin", 1852. Equally notable were his biographies of

Nathan ben Jehiel Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (Hebrew: נתן בן יחיאל מרומי; ''Nathan ben Y'ḥiel Mi Romi'' according to Sephardic pronunciation) ( 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a notable dictionary of Talmud ...

(author of the ''

Arukh Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (Hebrew: נתן בן יחיאל מרומי; ''Nathan ben Y'ḥiel Mi Romi'' according to Sephardic pronunciation) ( 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a notable dictionary of Talmu ...

''),

Hai Gaon Hai ben Sherira (Hebrew: האי/י בר שרירא) better known as Hai Gaon (Hebrew: האי/י גאון, חאיי גאון), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon (Hebrew), Gaon of the Talmudic Academies in Babylo ...

Eleazar Kalir Eleazar ben Kalir, also known as Eleazar HaKalir, Eleazar ben Killir or Eleazar Kalir (c. 570c. 640) was a Byzantine Jew and a Hebrew poet whose classical liturgical verses, known as '' piyut'', have continued to be sung through the centuries dur ...

, and others. His early writings were poems and translations. Thereafter his publications showed "evidence of marked critical ability". In 1824 he wrote an article for '' Bikkure ha-'Ittim'' on the independent Jewish tribes of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

and

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

. His work on Saadia Gaon and his times was published in the same journal in 1829, the first of a series of his biographical works on the medieval Jewish sages.

Ten Sephirot as vowel sounds

Solomon Judah Löb Rapoport notes that according to the

Masoretes The Masoretes ( he, בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה, Baʿălēy Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe-scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in ...

there are ten vowel sounds. He suggests that the passage in the '' Sefer Yetzirah'', which discusses the manipulation of letters in the creation of the world, can be better understood if the Sephirot refer to vowel sounds. He posits that the word ''sephirah'' in this case is related to the Hebrew word ("to retell"). His position is based on his belief that most Kabbalistic works written after ''Sefer Yetzirah'' (including the '' Zohar'') are forgeries.

Footnotes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapoport, Samuel Judah Lob Austro-Hungarian rabbis 1786 births 1867 deaths Age of Enlightenment Austrian Orthodox rabbis Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature Orthodox rabbis from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Levites Rabbis of Prague Rabbis from Lviv People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria 19th-century biographers Austrian biographers Religious biographers People of the Haskalah