Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805,
Żerków
Żerków () is a town in Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,122 inhabitants (2010). It is located east of the regional capital of Poznań.
The town is near the Żerków-Czeszewo Landscape Park.
History
The oldest know ...
,
South Prussia – 9 February 1873,
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German
orientalist and the son of noted
maggid
A maggid (), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a ''Darshan (Judaism), darshan'' (). The title of ''m ...
, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian
Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished scholar of
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic,
Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...
and literature. During his years as professor in the department of
oriental languages
Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, ...
and
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
(1864–1873), he wrote many works on
literary history and
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
.
Biography
His father was Hebrew grammarian
Jacob Alsari. At an early age, Fürst had a remarkable knowledge of
Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews, mostly among the Arab cit ...
,
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
scriptures and oriental languages. In 1825, after having studied at Berlin, where
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...
and
Neander Neander may refer to:
;Surname
* August Neander (1789–1850), a German theologian and church historian
* Ernst Neumann-Neander (1871–1954), founder of the now defunct Neander (motorcycle), Neander motorcycle manufacturer
* Joachim Neander (1650� ...
were among his teachers, he took a course in
Jewish theology
Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to recon ...
at
Posen. In 1829, after having abandoned his
Jewish orthodoxy
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...
, he went to
Breslau, and in 1831 to
Halle. Here he took his degree in oriental languages and theology under
Gesenius in 1832.
Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography:
* Delitzsch
'Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Poesie'', p. 124
where a didactic poem of Fürst's, "Ḥoḳ we-Emunah," composed "from his 14th-22d year," is mentioned, and which is not otherwise known;
*Fürst
''Bibl. Jud.'' i. 306
et seq.;
* Hilberg, ''Illustrierte Monatshefte'', i. 133 et seq.;
*Steinschneider
Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.''
Education
Mo ...
''Hebr. Bibl.'' xiii. 140
In 1833 he became a journalist in
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
, later securing a position as tutor and lecturer (''privat-docent'') in the university there (lecturing on
Chaldaic,
Syriac,
Hebrew grammar
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...
and literature,
Biblical exegesis
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...
, etc.), from which position he was promoted in 1864 to professor of oriental languages and literature. He filled this post until his death, and during his tenure there he was also elected to several scientific societies.
[
As one of the exponents of the University of Leipzig's academic scholarly milieu throughout his adult life he was also a contemporary, a friend, and a sometimes collaborator of Leipzig's own native ]Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
scholar and professor Franz Delitsch. Fürst was 8 years Delitsch's senior.
Fürst was chief editor of ''Der Orient'' (Leipzig 1840-1851), a periodical dedicated to scientific study of the language, literature and history of the Jews.
Works
* ''Lehrgebäude der aramaischen Idiome'' ("A system for Aramic dialects," 1835)
* ''Concordantiae librorum Sacrorum veteris Testamenti Hebraicae et Chaldaicae'' (1837–40)
* ''Kultur and Literaturgeschichte der Juden in Asien'' ("Cultural and literary history of Jews in Asia," 1849)
* ''Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch'' ("Portable dictionary for Hebrew and Chaldaic," 1857-61)
* ''Geschichte des Karäerthums'' (1862–65)
*
*
*
* ''Geschichte der biblischen Litteratur und des jüdisch-hellenistischen Schrifttums'' ("History of Biblical literature and Jewish-Hellenic writings," 1867-70)
References
External links
*
''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007)
entry on "Fuerst, Julius."
Literature by and about Julius Fürst in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica
Digitized works by Julius Fürst
at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furst, Julius
1805 births
1873 deaths
German orientalists
Jewish German scientists
19th-century German Jews
Bibliographers of Hebrew literature
Academic staff of Leipzig University
University of Breslau alumni
University of Halle alumni
German male non-fiction writers