One of the most unusual episodes in the annals of Hebrew printing involved the first Jewish print... more One of the most unusual episodes in the annals of Hebrew printing involved the first Jewish printers in Poland—Samuel, Asher, and Elyakim Helicz—who began to print in Cracow or, more likely, in neighboring Kazimierz, in 1534.1 Within a year of opening their business, the brothers had produced five relatively short titles, all of which were first editions and four of which were the first Yiddish books ever printed. After about a year of work, the Helicz brothers gave up publishing only to return to the trade about three years later, when they published several classic—and more substantial—rabbinic works in quick succession. However, it was not Samuel, Asher, and Elyakim Helicz who returned to the Hebrew publishing business in Cracow in 1538 but rather Paul, Andreas, and Johannes Helicz, neochristiani.2
Some time in the second half of the eighteenth century, there emerged a Jewish legend that glorif... more Some time in the second half of the eighteenth century, there emerged a Jewish legend that glorified a conversion to Judaism and a martyr's death of a Polish noble from a very prominent Polish aristocratic family, sometimes referred to as Walentyn Potocki, or Graf Potocki—the legend of ger ẓedek, a righteous convert, of Wilno. The story was enthusiastically embraced by Eastern European Jews, and it subsequently became a subject of numerous novels and novellas. Even today its appeal continues. It is currently mentioned on a number of Jewish web sites as “a true story of a Polish Hrabia (count) . . . who descended from a long line of noble Christian rulers and who sacrificed wealth and power to convert from Christianity to Judaism,” and it serves as a basis for school plays in some Ḥaredi schools for girls. Although converts to Judaism were not unheard of in the premodern era, few stories of this kind emerged. Rabbinic authorities had an ambiguous attitude toward non-Jewish conver...
Jewish history of the early modern period can boast of a number of eminent rabbis who left a perm... more Jewish history of the early modern period can boast of a number of eminent rabbis who left a permanent imprint on rabbinic culture. One of them was Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1578Y1654). Heller was a prominent and influential figure among Jews of eastern Europe as a community leader and a participant in important intellectual debates among the Jews of his day. A solid biography of this rabbi has been sorely needed, a need Joseph Davis_ Yom Tov Lipmann Heller: A Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi has come to fill. It is a welcome addition to the history of early modern Jews, those of eastern Europe in particular. Politically and socially, Heller_s life spanned the era of significant upheavals in east-central Europe, making Davis_s subject almost by definition rich and multifaceted, yet difficult as well. Joseph Davis follows Heller_s personal and professional footsteps chronologically, while interspersing the narrative with discussions of Heller_s contributions to the rabbinic culture of his time. The book starts with Heller_s birth in Wallerstein, a small village in Swabia, and then traces his life from childhood in the small Moravian town of Nikolsburg, into adulthood in Vienna and, then, Prague where, in 1627, he became Chief Rabbi until a fascinating web of political and social intrigues and crises led to his fall from grace in 1629Y1630. Following those events Heller moved to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he served as a rabbi in NiemirFw and Waodzimierz Woaycski, known in Yiddish as Ludmir, eventually becaming a rabbi in Cracow.
One of the most unusual episodes in the annals of Hebrew printing involved the first Jewish print... more One of the most unusual episodes in the annals of Hebrew printing involved the first Jewish printers in Poland—Samuel, Asher, and Elyakim Helicz—who began to print in Cracow or, more likely, in neighboring Kazimierz, in 1534.1 Within a year of opening their business, the brothers had produced five relatively short titles, all of which were first editions and four of which were the first Yiddish books ever printed. After about a year of work, the Helicz brothers gave up publishing only to return to the trade about three years later, when they published several classic—and more substantial—rabbinic works in quick succession. However, it was not Samuel, Asher, and Elyakim Helicz who returned to the Hebrew publishing business in Cracow in 1538 but rather Paul, Andreas, and Johannes Helicz, neochristiani.2
Some time in the second half of the eighteenth century, there emerged a Jewish legend that glorif... more Some time in the second half of the eighteenth century, there emerged a Jewish legend that glorified a conversion to Judaism and a martyr's death of a Polish noble from a very prominent Polish aristocratic family, sometimes referred to as Walentyn Potocki, or Graf Potocki—the legend of ger ẓedek, a righteous convert, of Wilno. The story was enthusiastically embraced by Eastern European Jews, and it subsequently became a subject of numerous novels and novellas. Even today its appeal continues. It is currently mentioned on a number of Jewish web sites as “a true story of a Polish Hrabia (count) . . . who descended from a long line of noble Christian rulers and who sacrificed wealth and power to convert from Christianity to Judaism,” and it serves as a basis for school plays in some Ḥaredi schools for girls. Although converts to Judaism were not unheard of in the premodern era, few stories of this kind emerged. Rabbinic authorities had an ambiguous attitude toward non-Jewish conver...
Jewish history of the early modern period can boast of a number of eminent rabbis who left a perm... more Jewish history of the early modern period can boast of a number of eminent rabbis who left a permanent imprint on rabbinic culture. One of them was Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1578Y1654). Heller was a prominent and influential figure among Jews of eastern Europe as a community leader and a participant in important intellectual debates among the Jews of his day. A solid biography of this rabbi has been sorely needed, a need Joseph Davis_ Yom Tov Lipmann Heller: A Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi has come to fill. It is a welcome addition to the history of early modern Jews, those of eastern Europe in particular. Politically and socially, Heller_s life spanned the era of significant upheavals in east-central Europe, making Davis_s subject almost by definition rich and multifaceted, yet difficult as well. Joseph Davis follows Heller_s personal and professional footsteps chronologically, while interspersing the narrative with discussions of Heller_s contributions to the rabbinic culture of his time. The book starts with Heller_s birth in Wallerstein, a small village in Swabia, and then traces his life from childhood in the small Moravian town of Nikolsburg, into adulthood in Vienna and, then, Prague where, in 1627, he became Chief Rabbi until a fascinating web of political and social intrigues and crises led to his fall from grace in 1629Y1630. Following those events Heller moved to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he served as a rabbi in NiemirFw and Waodzimierz Woaycski, known in Yiddish as Ludmir, eventually becaming a rabbi in Cracow.
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