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On the possibility of translating the Talmud by R. Meir ben Jeremiah Ish Shalom. The title page informs that this monograph was written in honor of the seventieth birthday of R. Eizek Hirsch Weiss of the Vienna Beit ha-Midrash. The text begins that was not written to be read, that is to say, as a man reads it in the normal manner and believes that he understands it meaning word for word, and understands its contents as he does other books. The Talmud, even when written like other works, remains the oral law, alluding to much more than what is written in it. Therefore, even if a person translates it faithfully it is not so, for it is written that is abbreviated, fragmented, with more allusions than is written. Even if well translated it requires explanation and commentary.
R. Meir ben Jeremiah Ish Shalom (Meir Friedmann, 1831-1908) was an Austrian scholar; born at Kraszna, in the district of Kashau, Hungary, July 10, 1831. At the age of thirteen he entered the yeshibah at Ungvar, where he was attracted to hasidism and the Cabala. Fortunately, however, at the age of sixteen he was led by the "Bi'ur" of Mendelssohn to the study of the Bible, and became deeply interested in Hebrew poetry, especially in Wassely's "Shire Tife'ret." At twenty, while living at Miskolez, where he earned his livelihood by giving instruction in Talmudical literature, he took up secular studies. In 1858 he entered the University of Vienna. When, in 1864, the Vienna bet ha-midrash was founded he was chosen as teacher of the Bible and Midrash; that office he still (1903) holds. Later he was elected a professor in the Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt. R. Friedmann has devoted himself chiefly to the editing of old Midrashim, to which he has added critical notes and valuable introductions. These notes, written in classical rabbinical style, are models of precision and are of great value. In addition to Devar al Odot ha-Talmud R. Friedmann has published the following works in Hebrew: The Sifre, Vienna, 1864; the Mekilta, ib. 1870; "Eshet Hayil," a commentary on Prov. xxxi. ib. 1878; the Pesikta Rabbati, ib. 1880; "Ha-Ẓiyyon," a rational interpretation of Ezek. xx. ib. 1882; "Masseket Makkot," a critical edition of the Talmudical treatise Makkot, with a commentary, ib. 1888; "Sefer Shofetim," notes to Judges, ib. 1891; "Me'ir 'Ayin," a commentary on the Passover Haggadah, ib. 1895; "Tanna, debe Eliyahu," ib. 1900. Friedmann's German publications are: "Worte der Erinnerung an Isaac Noa Mannheimer," ib. 1873; "Die Juden ein Ackerbautreibender Stamm," ib. 1878; "T. G. Stern, Gedenkrede," ib. 1883; "Zerubabel," German explanation of Isa., lii. 19 and liii. ib. 1890; "Worte zur Feier des 100 Jahrigen Geburtstages des Seligen Predigers Isaac Noa Mannheimer," 1893; "Onkelos und 'Aḳylos," ib. 1896. From 1881 to 1886 Friedmann published, together with R. Isaac Hirsh Weiss, the monthly "Bet Talmud," devoted to rabbinical studies. To this periodical R. Friedmann contributed, under the signature "Ish Shalom," many valuable essays, of which the most noteworthy are on the arrangement of the Pentateuch and on Samuel.
R. Weiss (1815-1905) was an Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature; born at Gross Meseritsch, Moravia, Feb. 9, 1815; died at Vienna June 1, 1905. He is best known for his Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, a work in five volumes. As its German title, "Zur Geschichte der Jüdischen Tradition," shows, it is a history of the Halakah, or oral law, from Biblical times until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century. |
