Judah Leib Ben-Ze'ev (, ; 18 August 176412 March 1811) was a Galician Jewish

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

, and

Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 F ...

. He was a member of the

Me'assefim The Me'assefim () were a group of Hebrew writers who between 1784 and 1811 published their works in the periodical ''Ha-Me'assef'' (), which they had founded. History In 1782 Moses Mendelssohn's German translation of the Pentateuch had appeared. I ...

group of Hebrew writers, and a "forceful proponent of revitalizing the Hebrew language".

Biography

Judah Leib Ben-Ze'ev was born in the Galician town of

Lelov Lelov ( yi, לעֶלוֹב) is a Polish-Israeli Hasidic dynastic court, which traces its origins to the town of Lelów, Poland where the court was established in 1815 by Rabbi Dovid Biderman (1746-1814). The Lelover dynasty migrated from Poland to ...

and received a traditional

Jewish education Jewish education ( he, חינוך, ''Chinuch'') is the transmission of the tenets, principles, and religious laws of Judaism. Known as the " people of the book", Jews value education, and the value of education is strongly embedded in Jewish c ...

. He was married off at the age of 13 and settled in the home of his wife's parents in Krakow, where he spent his days studying

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 cen ...

and his nights in clandestinely acquiring the knowledge of Hebrew philology and of secular subjects. In 1787 he moved to Berlin, then the centre of the Haskalah movement. There, he supported himself by teaching Hebrew and began publishing poems and parables in the Hebrew press. Ben-Ze'ev became friends with the Me'assefim and contributed to their journal poems and fables signed "Y. L. K." (Yehuda Leib Krakow). In 1790 Ben-Ze'ev took up residence in Breslau, where he wrote and published his Hebrew grammar, ''Talmud lashon ʻIvri'', in 1796. Two years later he published his Hebrew translation from Syriac of the

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

Book of Sirach The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fat ...

'', called by

Franz Delitzsch Franz Delitzsch (23 February 1813, in Leipzig – 4 March 1890, in Leipzig) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history of J ...

a "masterpiece of imitation of Biblical gnomic style", followed by a translation from Greek of the

Book of Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells ...

. Ben-Ze'ev returned from Breslau to Krakow and in 1799 formally

divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

his wife, with whom he had one daughter. He settled in Vienna as proofreader in the Hebrew presses of Joseph Hraszansky and and remained there till his death.

Work

Prose

Ben-Ze'ev is considered the first to systematize, in the Hebrew language itself,

Hebrew grammar 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 ...

, to arrange it methodically and to introduce logic, syntax, and prosody as part of grammatical studies. His grammar ''Talmud lashon ʻIvri'' served as the main source for the study of Hebrew in Eastern Europe for a hundred years. The work is divided into five parts, each prefaced with a poem in praise of the Hebrew language, and includes a '' ma'amar'' on the difference between thought and speech. It was republished with additions, annotations, and commentaries no less than twenty times. Most notable is the Vilna edition of 1874, with the commentary "Yitron le-Adam" by Avraham Ber Lebensohn. The first part of a German revision of his ''Talmud'' by

Salomon Jacob Cohen Salomon Jacob Cohen (; 23 December 1771 - 20 February 1845) was a German Jewish Hebrew scholar, teacher, writer and translator of the Bible. He was an important representative of the Haskalah in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. Life Cohen was born in M ...

appeared in Berlin in 1802, and three parts in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Ro� ...

in 1807. His second-most popular work was the ''Otzar ha-shorashim'', a lexicon of

Hebrew roots The Hebrew Roots movement is a religious movement that advocates adherence to the Torah and believes in Yeshua as the Messiah. History Since the early 20th century, different religious organizations have been teaching a belief in Jesus (calle ...

and Hebrew-German dictionary, inspired by the work of David Kimḥi. First published in Vienna between 1806 and 1808, the book went through six editions up to 1880. Ben-Ze'ev's ''Mesillat ha-limmud'', a grammatical work for school-age children, was translated into Italian by Leon Romani (Vienna, 1825) and into Russian by Abraham Jacob Paperna (Warsaw, 1871). Ben-Ze'ev released new editions and commentaries to the

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''; ...

's '' Sefer ha-emunot ve-ha-de'ot'' (Berlin, 1789) and Yedidya ha-Penini's ''Beḥinat ha-'Olam'' (1789). His last major work was ''Mavo el mikraʼe kodesh'' (Vienna, 1810), an anthology of historical-critical introductions to each of the books of the

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

and

Hagiographa The Ketuvim (; hbo, , Modern: ''Kəṯūvīm'', Tiberian: ''Kăṯūḇīm'' "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bi ...

. The ''Mavo'' adopts some of the

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine *Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing in ...

theories of

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (16 October 1752, in Dörrenzimmern – 27 June 1827, in Göttingen) was a German Protestant theologian of the Enlightenment and an early orientalist. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History. Education and e ...

Poetry

Ben-Ze'ev was the author of ''Melitzah le-Purim'', a collection of mock prayers and ''

seliḥot Selichot ( he, סְלִיחוֹת, səlīḥōt, singular: , ''səlīḥā'') are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are ...

'' for

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...

, which was often published with

Kalonymus ben Kalonymus Kalonymus ben Kalonymus ben Meir (Hebrew: קלונימוס בן קלונימוס), also romanized as Qalonymos ben Qalonymos or Calonym ben Calonym, also known as Maestro Calo (Arles, 1286 – died after 1328) was a Jewish philosopher and transl ...

' celebrated Talmudical parody ''Masekhet Purim''. In 1810, he released a poem in honour of the marriage of Napoleon and

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma Marie Louise (12 December 1791 – 17 December 1847) was an Austrian archduchess who reigned as Duchess of Parma from 11 April 1814 until her death. She was Napoleon's second wife and as such Empress of the French and Queen of Italy from their ...

. Ben-Ze'ev also composed the earliest-known Hebrew erotic poems in the modern era, which circulated widely in manuscript form but were not published until the 20th century. These include ''Shir agavim'', published by in 1977, and ''Derekh gever be-almah'', a description of sexual intercourse using combinations of fractions of biblical verses.

Criticism

While well regarded in Maskilic circles, Ben-Ze'ev was the subject of bitter denunciation from many traditionalists because of his heterodox Enlightenment activities. Rumours circulated of the writer having died on the toilet as

divine punishment Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings within a religion. Ancient beliefs In ancient Sumerian religion, the sun-god Utu and his twin sister Inanna were believed to be the enforcers of divine justice. Utu, as t ...

for editing the ''Talmud lashon ʻIvri'' on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

Partial bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Ma'oz Tzur le-Purim
('

Ma'oz Tzur "Ma'oz Tzur" ( he, מָעוֹז צוּר, Māʾōz Ṣūr) is a Jewish liturgical poem or ''piyyut''. It is written in Hebrew, and is sung on the holiday of Hanukkah, after lighting the festival lights. The hymn is named for its Hebrew incipit, w ...

for

'), attributed to Judah Leib Ben-Ze'ev

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Ze'ev, Judah Leib 1764 births 1811 deaths 18th-century Jewish biblical scholars 18th-century lexicographers 18th-century linguists 19th-century Jewish biblical scholars 19th-century lexicographers 19th-century linguists Grammarians of Hebrew Hebrew-language poets Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Polish parodists Polish Hebraists Polish lexicographers Translators from Aramaic Translators from Greek Translators from Syriac Translators to Hebrew Translators to Yiddish People of the Haskalah 18th-century translators