Zunz, Leopold

Zunz, Leopold
Hebrew Yom-Tob Lippmann

born Aug. 10, 1794, Detmold, Lippe
died March 18, 1886, Berlin

German historian of Jewish literature.

After taking his doctorate at Halle, he spent much of his life in a precarious struggle with poverty. With the publication of his seminal work, On Rabbinic Literature (1818), he initiated (1819) the movement called Wissenschaft des Judentums ("Science of Judaism"), which stressed the analysis of Jewish literature and culture with the tools of modern scholarship. His On History and Literature (1845) places Jewish literary activity in the context of European literature and politics. Zunz is often considered the greatest Jewish scholar of the 19th century.

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▪ German scholar
Hebrew  Yom-tob Lippmann  
born Aug. 10, 1794, Detmold, Lippe [now in Germany]
died March 18, 1886, Berlin, Ger.

      German historian of Jewish literature who is often considered the greatest Jewish scholar of the 19th century. He began (1819) the movement called Wissenschaft des Judentums (“Science of Judaism”), which stressed the analysis of Jewish literature and culture with the tools of modern scholarship.

      Zunz studied classics and history at Berlin University, although he took his doctorate at the University of Halle (1821). Much of his life afterward was a precarious struggle with poverty. He served as a lay preacher for a congregation and worked as a newspaper editor (1824–31) and later as a teacher and principal at the Jewish teachers seminary in Berlin (1840–50).

      The Science of Judaism was initiated with his seminal work, Etwas über die rabbinische Litteratur (1818; “On Rabbinic Literature”), which revealed to the interested public, for the first time, the scope and beauty of postbiblical Jewish literature. In 1819, with the noted jurist Eduard Gans and a merchant and mathematician, Moses Moser, Zunz founded the Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (“Society for Jewish Culture and Science”). He and his colleagues hoped that an analysis and exposition of the breadth and depth of Jewish history, literature, and culture would lead to general acceptance of the Jews. From 1822 to 1823, Zunz edited the Society's Zeitschrift (periodical), to which he contributed a classic biography of Rashi, the great medieval commentator on biblical and rabbinical texts. When the society disbanded in 1824, he continued its work alone.

      Zunz's Gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, historisch entwickelt (1832; “The Worship Sermons of the Jews, Historically Developed”) is a historical analysis of Jewish homiletical literature and its evolutionary development up to the modern-day sermon. His revelations of the cultural depth of Jewish civilization in the European Middle Ages refuted the views of those who held that Jewish culture and learning ended with the biblical period.

      Zur Geschichte und Literatur (1845; “On History and Literature”) was a wide-ranging work that placed the gamut of Jewish literary activity in the context of European literature and politics. Zunz wrote three important works on the liturgies of Judaism and served as editor in chief of a translation of the Bible (1838), for which he translated the Books of Chronicles. In his last years he wrote a series of essays on the Bible, collected in Gesammelte Schriften, 3 vol. (1875–76; “Collected Writings”).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • ZUNZ, LEOPOLD — (Yom Tov Lippman (n); 1794–1886), philologist, among the founders of the Science of Judaism (wissenschaft des judentums ). Born in Detmold, Germany, the child of talmud scholar Immanuel Menachem Zunz (1759– 1802) and Hendel Behrens (1773–1809),… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Zunz, Leopold — ► (1794 1886) Erudito e historiador germanojudío. Autor de Sermones de los judíos y La poesía sinagogal de la Edad Media, entre otros. * * * hebreo Yom Tob Lippmann (10 ago. 1794, Detmold, Lippe, Alemania–18 mar. 1886, Berlín). Historiador alemán …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Zunz, Leopold — (1794 1886)    German historian. He was born in Detmold. He helped found the Verein fur Kultur and Wissenschaft der Juden in Berlin in 1819, and his work is regarded as having laid the foundations for the scientific study of Jewish history… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Zunz, Leopold — (Yom Tov Lippmann) (1794–1886)    German scholar of Judaism. Zung is regarded as the father of the ‘Science of Judaism’, and was a co founder of the Verein Fuer Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (1819), a society for Jewish culture and science.… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Zunz — Zunz, Leopold …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Leopold Zunz — Leopold Zunz, Porträt von Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Leopold Zunz (ursprünglich Jom Tob Lippmann Zunz; * 10. August 1794 in Detmold; † 17. März 1886 in Berlin) war ein deutscher jüdischer Wissenschaft …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Léopold Zunz — Leopold Zunz Portrait de Leopold Zunz, par Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Leopold Zunz, (en hébreu et en yiddish : יום טוב ליפמן צונץ Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) est un savant et chercheur juif allemand du …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Zunz — Leopold Zunz Portrait de Leopold Zunz, par Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Leopold Zunz, (en hébreu et en yiddish : יום טוב ליפמן צונץ Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) est un savant et chercheur juif allemand du …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leopold Zunz — (1794 ndash;1886) (Hebrew/ Yiddish: יום טוב ליפמן צונץ mdash; Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz ) was the founder of what has been termed the Science of Judaism ( Wissenschaft des Judentums ), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and… …   Wikipedia

  • Leopold Zunz — retratado por Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. Leopold Zunz (1794–1886) (Hebreo: יום טוב ליפמן צונץ Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz ) fue el fundador de lo que se ha denominado la Ciencia del Judaísmo (Wissenschaft des Judentums), la investigación crítica de la… …   Wikipedia Español

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