Haskalah scientific knowledge in Hebrew garment: A general statement and two examples

Tal Kogman
Tel Aviv University
Abstract

Scientific texts for Jewish children and youth were produced within the German-Jewish culture from the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century. The intention was to fill in the gap in the Judaic literature in Hebrew vis-à-vis the German-Christian literary and educational systems as part of modernization processes. Two case studies of German-Hebrew scientific translations (in natural history and astronomy) are described in an attempt to illustrate the strategies applied by the Jewish translators, which in their turn reflect the cultural constraints they faced and the creative ways they chose to deal with them, taking into account the models already available to the target system and the types of target audience the translated texts were intended for.

Keywords:
Table of contents

The intensive efforts to translate German Enlightenment texts for children and youth into Hebrew have taken place under conditions of extreme incongruity between the Jewish-Hebraic literature and its German model. The primary sources of imitation for the Haskalah [Jewish Enlightenment] at the end of the 18th century belonged to the multi-dimensional corpus of German-Christian texts (Shoham 1996: 30–32), which offered a large repertoire of different textual models. Jewish culture, on the other hand, consisted primarily of texts created in a religious context (Shoham 1996: 18–19; 21). In striving to transform itself, Hebrew culture assigned Enlightenment texts a central role as agents of change (Feiner 2002: 58; 277–278). There was an impetus to broaden the scope of Hebrew literature with [ p. 70 ]texts on a wide range of topics, especially those at the forefront of the contemporary European world. This necessitated intensive activities of translation and adaptation of non-Jewish texts (Toury 1995: 131).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Sources

Ben Zeew, Jehuda Löb
1802 Messilat ha-limud. Wien: Josef Harschanski. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Bock, Moses Ben Zwi
1811 Israelitischer Kinderfreund: oder der gemeinüßigsten wissenschaftilichen Kenntnisse. Berlin: Chewrat Chinuch Ne’arim.[ p. 81 ]Google Scholar
Bock, Moshe Ben Zwi
1811/1812 Moda le-yalde bne Israel. Berlin: Chewrat Chinuch Ne’arim. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Linda, Baruch
1789 Reshit limudim (Vol. 1). Berlin: Chewrat Chinuch Ne’arim. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Raff, Georg Christian
1788 (1778). Naturgeschichte für Kinder. Göttingen: Joh. Friedr. Valz.Google Scholar
Wolfsohn-Halle, Aron
1790 Avtalion. Berlin: Chewrat Chinuch Ne’arim. [Hebrew]Google Scholar

Secondary Literature

Bartal, Israel
1992 “From traditional bilingualism to national monolingual”. Shvut 15. 183–193. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Brüggemann, Theodor and Hans-Heino Ewers
1991 Handbuch zur Kinder– und Jugendliteratur: Von 1750 bis 1800. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzlerschen Verlagsbuchhandlung. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doderer, Klaus
Hrsg. 1975 Lexikon der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur: Personen-, Länder- und Sachartikel zu Geschichte und Gegenwart der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag.Google Scholar
Eliav, Mordechai
1960 Jewish education in Germany in the period of Enlightenment and Emancipation. Jerusalem: The Israeli Sochnut Press. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Feiner, Shmuel
1995a “Educational programs and social ideals: ‘Chinuch Ne’arim’ school in Berlin 1778–1825”. Zion 60. 393–424. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
1995b Haskalah and history: The emergence of modern Jewish awareness of the past. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
2002 The Jewish Enlightment in the eighteenth-century. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Freudenthal, Gad
1992 “The place of sciences at the Jewish communities in the middle ages”. Zmanim 42. 40–51. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Jaafaz
1888/9 “Additions to Rabi Shneor Zaksh”. Otzar ha-sifrut. Krakau: Josef Fischer, 288–289. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Klausner, Joseph
1930 History of the modern Hebrew literature 1. Jerusalem: Hebrew University. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Kogman, Tal
2000 The creation of images of knowledge in texts for children and young adults published during the Haskalah period. The Shirley and Leslie Porter School of Cultural Studies, Tel Aviv University. [Dissertation] [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Kressel, G.
1965 Cyclopedia of modern Hebrew literature I. Merchavia: Sifriat Poalim. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Levine, Hillel
1983 “Paradise not surrendered: Jewish reactions to Copernicus and the growth of modern science” . Robert S. Cohen and Marx W. Wartofsky, eds. Epistemology, methodology, and social science. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company 1983 203–225.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lowenstein, Steven
1982 “The readership of Mendelssohn’s Bible translation”. Hebrew union college annual LIII. Cincinnati, 1982. 179–213.Google Scholar
Ofek, Uriel
1979 Hebrew children’s literature: The beginnings. The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Oz-Salzberger, Fania
1989 “The emergence of the modern University in eighteenth-century Germany”. Rivka Feldhay and Immanuel Etkes, eds. Education and history: Cultural and political contexts. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History 1989 199–244. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Pelli, Moshe
1988 Struggle for change: Studies in the Hebrew Enlightenment in Germany at the end of the 18th century. Tel Aviv: University Publishing Projects. [Hebrew][ p. 82 ]Google Scholar
Rappel, Dov
1990 The seven wisdoms: The debate over Jewish secular studies. Jerusalem: Ministry of Culture and Education. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Ravetz, J.R.
1990 “The Copernican revolution”. R.C. Olby and G.N. Cantor, eds. Companion to the history of modern science. London and New York: Routledge 1990 201–216.Google Scholar
Rezler-Bersohn, Nehama
1980.“Isaac Satanow: An epitome of the era”. Leo Baeck Institut Year Book 25. 81–100.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rosenbloom, Noah H.
1989 “The first Hebrew encyclopedia, its author and its progression”. Noah H. Rosenbloom. Literature and contemplation studies: From the close of the 18th century to our days. Jerusalem: Reuven Mass 1989 1–51. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Ruderman, David
1995 Jewish thought and scientific discovery in early modern Europe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shavit, Yaacov
1993 “A duty too heavy to bear: Hebrew in the Berlin Haskalah, 1783–1819: Between classic, modern and romantic”. Lewis Glinert, ed. Hebrew in Ashkenaz. New York: London University, Oxford University Press 1993 111–128.Google Scholar
Shavit, Zohar
1988 “From Friedländer’s Lesebuch to the Jewish Campe: The beginning of Hebrew children’s literature in Germany”. Leo Baeck Institut Year Book 33. 393–423.Google Scholar
1989 “The entrance of a new model into the system: The law of transformation”. Karl Eimermacher, Peter Grzybek and George Witte, eds. Issues in Slavic literary and cultural theory. Bochum: Brockmeyer 1989 593–600.Google Scholar
1992 “Interference relations between German and Jewish-Hebrew children’s literature in the Enlightenment: The case of Campe”. Poetics today (Children literature) 13:1. 41–61.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993 “Furnishing a Jewish, enlightened room in Berlin: The case of the first modern reader for Jewish children”. Israel Bartal, Ezra Mendelsohn and Chava Turnisansky, eds. Studies in Jewish culture in honor of Chone Shmeruk. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center 1993 193–207. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
1994 “Deutsche Einflüsse auf Jüdische Kinderliteratur”. Ariel: Eine Zeitschrift zur Kunst und Bildung in Israel 1994 87–95.Google Scholar
1998 “Literary interference between German and Jewish-Hebrew children’s literature during the Enlightenment: The case of Campe”. Jewish studies in a new Europe. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzel A/S international Publishers 1998 787–797.Google Scholar
Shavit, Zohar and Hans-Heino Ewers
(in Zusammenarbeit mit Ran HaCohen und Annegret Völpel) 1996 Deutsch-jüdische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. Von der Haskalah bis 1945. Die deutsch- und hebräischsprachigen Schriften des deutschsprachigen Raums. Ein bibliographisches Handbuch. Stuttgart: Metzler Verlag.Google Scholar
Sheffi, Naama
1998 German in Hebrew: German translation in the Jewish settelment 1882–1948. Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zwi and Leo Baeck Institute. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Shmueli, Efraim
1986 “Cultural pangs—Linguistic pangs: Moses Mendelssohn and the multilingual problem in Hebrew literature”. Kivunim 33. 129–152.[Hebrew]Google Scholar
Shoham, Chaim
1996 Inspired by German Enlightenment, ed. Gideon Toury. Tel Aviv University: Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Hakibbutz Hameuchad. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Simon, Akiva Erenst
1953 “The pedagogic Philantropinism and the Jewish Haskalah”. Mordechai Menachem Kaplan jubillee book. NY: Rabbis’ place of Torah study in America 1953 149–187. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1993 “An enlightened use of fable: Christian Fürchtegott Gellert in Hebrew literature”. Ziva Shamir and Avner Holzman, eds. Turning points in Hebrew literature and [ p. 83 ]their relationship to contacts with other literatures. Tel Aviv University: Katz Institute 1993 75–86. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
1995 Descriptive Translation Studies and beyond. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1999 “Culture planning and translation”. Alberto Álvarez Lugrís and Anxo Fernández Ocampo, eds. anovar/anosar: estudios de traducción e interpretación I. Vigo: Servicio de Publicacións da Universidade de Vigo 1999 13–25.Google Scholar
2000 “An enlightened use of fable: Christian Fürchtegott Gellert in Hebrew literature”. Dirk de Geest, Ortwin de Graef, Dirk Delabastita, Koenraad Geldor, Rita Ghequiere and José Lambert, eds. Under construction: Links for the site of literary theory: Essays in honor of Hendrik Van Gorp. Leuven: Leuven University Press 2000 197–209.Google Scholar
Werses, Shmuel
1998 “The interlingual tension between the Maskilim’s periodicals and its surrounding”. Dapim le-mechkar be-sifrut 11 (Haifa University). 29–69. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Zarfati, Gad Ben Ammi
1969 Mathematic terms in the Hebrew sceintific literature of the Middle Ages. Jerusalem: Magnes Publishing House. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Zeitlin, William
1891–1895 Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendelssohnia: Biblioraphisches Handbuch der Neuhebräische Literatur. Leipzig: K.F. Koehler’s Antiquarium.Google Scholar