Senior Sachs
Encyclopedia
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
scholar born at Kėdainiai
Kedainiai
Kėdainiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located on the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population as of 2008 was 30,214. Its old town dates to the 17th century....
, government of Kovno. When Senior was only one and one-half year old his father, Tzemach Sachs, became rabbi of Žagarė
Žagare
Žagarė is a city located in the Joniškis district, northern Lithuania, close to the border with Latvia. It has a population of about 2,000.-Names:Foreign renderings of the name include: , , .-History:The foundation of Žagarė dates back to the 12th century...
, also in the government of Kovno, and here he instructed his young son in Hebrew and Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
.
Education
While still a boy, Sachs manifested his predilection for Hebrew literatureHebrew 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...
. Later he became acquainted with Joshua Klein
Joshua Klein
Joshua Klein is a technologist who uses systems thinking to create alternative methods of succeeding in divergent fields. He is most widely known for his project designed to train crows to fetch lost change, but has also used this method to write two books , participate in several startups, work...
, parnas
Parnas
Parnas may refer to:*David Parnas, an early pioneer of software engineering who developed the concept of module design which is the foundation of object-oriented programming today*Jakub Karol Parnas, Polish biochemist...
of the Kėdainiai community, who furnished him with Haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
books. Having read Erter's works, Senior purposed going to Brody
Brody
Brody is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Brody Raion , and is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv...
in order to study directly under that author, but his early marriage, in accordance with the custom of that time, prevented the execution of this plan. He, however, left Žagarė
Žagare
Žagarė is a city located in the Joniškis district, northern Lithuania, close to the border with Latvia. It has a population of about 2,000.-Names:Foreign renderings of the name include: , , .-History:The foundation of Žagarė dates back to the 12th century...
for Wasilishok, where he studied during a whole year as a beneficiary of the bet ha-midrash. Then, after teaching for a year in Dubno
Dubno
Dubno is a city located on the Ikva River in the Rivne Oblast of western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Dubno Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
, he finally arrived at Brody (ca. 1839), where, through the assistance of Erter, he earned a livelihood by teaching Hebrew. Meanwhile he studied German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Syriac, and devoted the greater part of his time to reading scientific and philosophical works.
Early Vicissitudes
Sachs remained two years in Brody, and while there wrote an article in Hebrew on Russo-Hebrew scholars and on the education of the Jews in Russia; this he sent to Jost, who translated it into German, and published it in his Annalen (1840, Nos. 4-10), omitting, however, the author's signature. His parents having requested him to return home, Sachs set out on his journey, but, having no passport, was arrested on the Russian frontier. He was brought to KremenetsKremenets
Kremenets is a city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion , and rests 18 km north-east of the great Pochayiv Monastery...
, where he was thrown into prison, remaining in confinement five months, when he was liberated through the efforts of Isaac Baer Levinsohn
Isaac Baer Levinsohn
Isaac Baer Levinsohn , born Kremenetz, October 13, 1788; died there, February 12, 1860, was a notable Russian-Hebrew scholar, satirist, writer and Haskalah leader. He was called "the Russian Mendelssohn"...
. Sachs stayed at Zhagory six months, when he was invited to teach at Raseiniai
Raseiniai
Raseiniai is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the Kaunas–Klaipėda highway.- Grand Duchy of Lithuania :...
, where he remained till the end of 1843. At length he went to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(1844), where he entered the university, attending particularly the lectures of Schelling
Schelling
Notable people with the last name of Schelling include:* Ernest Schelling, American composer* Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher* Thomas Schelling, American economist and Nobel laureate...
and Althaus
Althaus
Althaus is a surname and may refer to:*Dieter Althaus , German politician, Minister-President of Thuringia*Johannes Althusius , also known as Johannes Althaus, German Calivinist philosopher and theologian...
. In 1856 Sachs was invited to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
by Baron Joseph Günzburg
Joseph Günzburg
Baron Joseph Günzburg Baron Joseph Günzburg Baron Joseph Günzburg (Baron Osip Gavrilovch Gintsburg, Барон Осип Гаврилович Гинцбург (or Iosif-Evzel, Иосиф-Евзель) , (1812, Vitebsk–January 12, 1878, Paris), was a Russian financier and philanthropist. He is the son of Gabriel Günzburg and the father...
to become his private librarian and the tutor of his children.
Works
In Paris Sachs displayed great activity in various branches of Hebrew literature, but as he occupied himself with different subjects at one and the same time, most of his works remained unfinished.While in Berlin he had begun to edit literary periodicals, the first of which was Ha-Teḥiyyah, treating chiefly of medieval religious philosophy. Only two numbers were issued, the first in 1850 and the second in 1857. In 1850 Sachs edited also Zunz
Zunz
Zunz, Zuntz is a Yiddish surname: , Belgian pharmacologist* Leopold Zunz , German Reform rabbi* Gerhard Jack Zunz , British civil engineer- Zuntz :* Nathan Zuntz , German physiologist...
's Ha-Paliṭ, an index of valuable Hebrew manuscripts, with biographical notes on some of the authors. Of his Ha-Yonah only one number appeared (Berlin, 1851); it contains among other things an article by Slonimski on the Jewish calendar according to the ancient Talmudists. Sachs then undertook to continue the publication of the Kerem Ḥemed, editing vols. viii. (Berlin, 1854) and ix. (ib. 1856). His other works are:
- Kanfe Yonah, a supplement to Ha-Yonah (ib. 1858 ?)
- Le-Yom Huledet (Paris, 1859), a pamphlet on the anniversary of Mathilda Günzburg's birth
- Ḳikayon Yonah (ib. 1860), an announcement of the continuation of Ha-Yonah, containing, besides the prospectus, literary essays
- Ben Yonah (ib. 1860), a rimed prospectus of Ha-Yonah
- Sefer Taggin (ib. 1866), a midrash, attributed to R. AkibaAkibaAkiba may refer to:*Akiba-kei, a Japanese slang term*Tadatoshi Akiba , mayor of Hiroshima* Akiba, a subgenus of protozoa in the genus LeucocytozoonIn entertainment:* Akiba , a 2006 Japanese film...
, on the crowns of the letters ("taggin"), edited with an essay on the age of this work and also on the Sefer Shimmusha Rabba and Otiyot de-R. Aḳiba - Reshimah (ib. 1866), a catalog (unfinished) of the Günzburg library
- Shire ha-Shirim Asher li-Shelomoh (ib. 1868), the poems of Ibn Gabirol revised, punctuated, and commentated by the editor (this work has also a FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
title, Cantiques de Salomon ibn Gabirole [Avicebron]) - Ḥidot R. Shelomoh ben Gabirol (in Oẓar ha-Sifrut, iv. 90-111), Ibn Gabirol's riddles with solutions and explanations.
Senior Sachs died at Paris on Nov. 18, 1892.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- I. S. Fuchs, in Ha-Maggid, xxxv., No. 26;
- I. Goldblum, in Keneset Yisrael, i. 833 et seq.;
- idem, in Oẓar ha-Sifrut, iii., part 4, p. 97;
- JellinekJellinekJellinek is a surname and may refer to:* Adolf Jellinek , an Austrian rabbi and scholar.** Max Hermann Jellinek , son of Adolf Jellinek* E...
, in Jüdisches Literaturblatt, xxi. 192; - I. Lévi, in R. E. J. xxvi. 157;
- M. Schwab, in Arch. Isr. liii. 374;
- N. Sokolow, Sefer Zikkaron, p. 42;
- Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. pp. 326 et seq.
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia article for Senior Sachs, by Herman RosenthalHerman RosenthalHerman Rosenthal was an American author, editor, and librarian.-Biography:Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt , Courland. He was educated at Bauske and Jakobstadt , graduating in 1859. In that year he translated into German several of Nekrasov's poems...
and M. Seligsohn.