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 (; ) 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 centerpiece of Jewi ...

to English. 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 that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

with the

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

"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 is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, 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 a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

movement, who created his own

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

group in Usha and then in Starosjle. Michael grew up in a

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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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 in '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Ka ...

, who labeled Rodkinson a "sham scholar" for the many apparently misinformed or naive translations of common talmudical terms. Ephraim Deinard was a critic of Rodkinson and is described as a literary adversary. Rabbi Isaac M. Wise publicly 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 (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. (Until then, Hebrew was mostly used as a kind of Jewish and Rabbinic

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

for works of scholarship in letters,

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

, philosophy, ethics,

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, and hassidut while

was used as a spoken language by Jews across Ashkenaz.) 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 Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; na ...

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 ''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 the ...

. 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 American translators American Orthodox Jews Chabad history Jewish translators Talmud translators Talmudists Translators from Hebrew Translators to English