Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 6.djvu/53

---

GOLDENBERG, SAMUEL LÖB: Austrian Hebraist; bom at Bolecliow, Galicia, 1807; died at Tamopol Jan. 11, 1846. He was the founder and editor of the Hebrew periodical " Kerem Hemed " (vols. i. and ii., Vienna, 1833 and 1836; vols, iii.- vii., Prague, 1838-43), the appearance of which marlied a new epocli in Hebrew literature, in that it supplied reading-matter of a thoroughly scientific character. . Among its contributors were Rapoport, Krochmal, Zuuz, Slonimsliy, Pineles, S. D. Luz- zatlo, Reggio, Abraham Geiger, Isaac Erter, Samuel Byk, Tobias Peder, Joseph Perl, and Aaron Chorin. The pure, classic Hebrew employed by these scliolars put an end to the conceits and circumlocutions of the older Hebraists ; and the spirit of criticism and liis- torical investigation manifested in all their articles dealt a blow in Galicia to Hasidism, which had for- merly counted among its followers many of the con- tributors to the "Kerem Hemed." BiBLiOGEAPHT : Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1846, pp. 104-105 ; Gratz,

Gescli. xi. 493, 498 : Jost, Neuere Gesch. lii. 105-lOli.

s. A. R.

GOLDENTHAL, JACOB: Austrian Oriental- ist; born at Brody, Galicia, April 16, 1815; died at Vienna Dec. 28, 1868 ; educated at the University of Leipsic. In June, 1843, he became principal of the Jewish school at Kishinef, Bessarabia, and held the oflBce for some years. He was appointed professor of rabbinica and Oriental languages at the Univer- sity of Vienna in Sept. , 1849, and held the chair until his death. Upon the nomination of Hammer-Purg- stall he was elected corresponding member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. His chief literary activity consisted in editing the following manu- scripts: (1) "Mozene Zedelj," a treatise on philo- sophical ethics by Al-Ghazali, translated in to Hebrew by Abraham ibn Hasdai, with an introduction on the lives and works of Al-Ghazali and Ibn Hasdai, 1838. (2) "Bi'ur ibn Roshd," Todrosi's Hebrew translation of Averroes' commentary on Aristotle's " Rhetorica, " with a historical and philosophical introduction, 1843. (3) "Mesharet Mosheh," commentary by Ka- lonymus on Maimonides' system of Divine Provi- dence, with his explanation of Ps. xlx. and xxxvii., 1845. (4) "Mafteah," methodology of the Talmud by Nissim ben Jacob of Kairwan, with introduction, notes, and references, 1847. (5) "Mikdash Me'at," Moses Rieti's didactic poem on ancient philosophy and the history of Jewish literature, with an Italian and Hebrew preface, 1851 (see" Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1859, p. 124).

Goldenthal further pubUshed a catalogue of He- brew manuscripts in the Imperial Library of Vienna, 1854, ,and an Arabic grammar in Hebrew for the use of the Oriental Jews, with a Pj-ench preface, 1857. Volume i. of the " Denkschrif ten " of the Vienna Academy of Sciences contains his "BeitrSge zu ei- nem Sprachvergleichenden Rabbinisch-Philosophis- chenWOrterbuche." He issued "DasNeue Zion," a monthly periodical, Leipsic, Nisan, 1845, of which only one number appeared. Another periodical which he edited, "Das Morgenland," was also short-lived. Bibliography : Brilll, In Allgemeine Deutsche Binaraphie, Ix. 332, Leipsic, 1879; FUrst, Bihl. Jud.; Zedner, Cat. Heir. Bookf Brit. Mus.; ZeitUn, BiH. Pnst^MendeU.; Almanach der KainerHchen Ahademie der Wissemchaften, 1869, pp. 245 et sea.; Neue Freie Presse, 1868, No. 1556. s S. Man.

Abrabam Goldfaden.

GOLDFADEN, ABRAHAM B. HAYYIM LIPPE: Hebrew and Yiddish poet and founder of the Yiddish drama; born at Starokonstantinov, Russia, July 13, 1840. He graduated from the rabbinical school of Jitomir in 1866. For nine years he taught in government schools, first at Simferopol and afterward at Odessa, and in 1875 went to Lemberg, where he founded "Yisrolik," a humorous weekly in Yiddish which circulated mostly in Russia, but ceased to exist six months later, when its entrance to that country was prohibited. Goldfaden then went to Czernowitz, where he established the "Bukowiner Israelitisches Volksblatt," which also had only a brief existence.

While on a visit to Jassy, Rumania, in 1876, his initial dramatic creation, "The Recruits," was put upon the first regularly organized modern Yiddish stage. It was entirely his own creation, for he himself built the stage, painted the decorations, wrote the piece, composed the music, and instructed the actors. In 1878, when he already had a tolerably good troupe of actors, and a repertoire of fourteen pieces from his own pen, he carried his enterprise into Russia and at first established himself in the Maryinski Theater in Odessa. He conducted several very successful tours through Russia until it was forbidden by the government to continue Yiddish theaters (1883). Alter a few years in Rumania and Galicia he revived his theater in Warsaw for a short time, but in a German guise. In 1887 he went to New York, where he founded the "New Yorker Illustrirte Zeitung," the first Yiddish illustrated periodical, and was also for some time connected with the Rumanian Opera-House of that city. He returned to Europe in 1889, and lived mostly in Paris. Since 1903 he has resided in New York.

Goldfaden's Hebrew poetry, most of which is contained in his "Zizim u-Perahim" (Jitomir, 1865), possesses considerable merit, but it has been eclipsed by his Yiddish poetry, which, for strength of expression and for depth of true Jewish feeling, remains unrivaled. He is the most Jewish of all the Yiddish poets, and his songs, especially those contained in his popular plays, are sung by the Yiddish-speaking masses in all parts of the world. His earliest collection of Yiddish songs, "Das Yüdele," has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1866. But his fame rests on his dramatic productions, which number about twenty-five. The best of them, "Shulamit" and "Bar Kochba," are considered the most popular dramatic works in Yiddish. Of the others, "Shmendrik," "Die Kishufmacherin," "Die Zewei Kune Lemels," and "Dr. Almasada" deserve special mention. Most of them were reprinted many times, both in Russia and in the United States,