Eliezer Ben Naphtali Heart Treves

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Elieser ben Naphtali Herz Treves , called Elieser von Frankfurt, (born 1498 in Frankfurt am Main ; died 1567 there ) was a German rabbi , Jewish scholar and printer of the 16th century.

Life

Building at Priestergasse 13 in Tiengen, according to tradition the location of the Hebrew shop

Elieser von Frankfurt was born in Frankfurt am Main in the late nineties of the 15th century and was the rabbinate of Frankfurt am Main for over 20 years . His thinking was influenced by Ascher Lemlein , a chiliastic Jewish preacher of the early 16th century. Eliezer von Frankfurt was appointed by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1558 to a commission for the order of the Jewish community in Prague . Eliezer von Frankfurt was an important collector of Hebrew scripts. In 1561 he was in Cracow and copied Salomon Molcho's commentaries .

Elieser von Frankfurt took the view that rabbis should continue to educate themselves. As a result, he and his brother Josef ben Naphtali were the first to publish a new edition of Elia Levita's psalm translation in Zurich in 1558 . In the colophon the brothers named themselves as printers of the work.

The Hebrew alphabet was ideal for the production of printing types. In Italy and on the Iberian Peninsula, Hebrew officers emerged as early as the 1950s . North of the Alps, on the other hand, Hebrew prints are only found sporadically, for example from 1513 (Prague). The pre-Reformation freer climate in Zurich may have influenced the choice of location by the brothers. In Frankfurt there was a printing ban on Hebrew scriptures.

The translation of the Psalms by Elia Levita was merely an experimental balloon for a planned complete edition of the Talmud . Prints of the Talmud had been published in Italy for decades. However, from 1553 onwards, at the instigation of the Inquisition , the prints were placed on the index and burned. Due to the rejection of the printing permission by the Zurich council and a subsequent deportation order, the brothers Elieser and Josef moved their printing workshop to Tiengen on the Upper Rhine in 1559, taking the printing types with them . Wilhelm Graf von Sulz , who was notoriously in need of money , was positive about every source of income. Six prints by the Tiengen Hebrew printing works from October 1559 to March 1561 are known. An advertisement from the bailiff of Kaiserstuhl Bernhard Segisser to the Prince-Bishop of Constance led to a liberal decision. Only the printing of German, but not Hebrew, writings was prohibited.

The definitive end of the printing works in Tiengen came in July 1560, when the Tagsatzung intervened against the sale of Tiengen prints published without an imprint in the area of ​​the Confederation . The brothers did not pursue the Talmud project any further. A print of the extensive Talmud would not have been possible at that time due to the limited technical possibilities and the equipment of the printing plant in Tiengen.

In 1561, a Talmud project by Johann Froben's shop in Basel failed due to a ban by the city council. The extent to which Elieser von Frankfurt was involved in the project remains to be clarified.

Works by the Tiengener Officin

  • Naphtali Herz Treves (Elieser's father): Diqduq tefilla , without printer, Tihingen.
  • unknown: Yesod Schirim , Joseph Ben Naphtali and Eliezer Ben Joseph Herz, Tihingen.
  • Simon Ben Samuel: Adam sichli , without imprint and place.
  • Hizqiyya Ben Avraham: Malkiel , Joseph Ben Naphtali and Eliezer Ben Joseph Herz, Tihingen
  • Matatya: Begidat Hasman , Joseph Ben Naphtali and Eliezer Ben Joseph Herz, Tihingen.
  • probably from Yehuda Chassid: Schir Hajichud , without publisher's mark and place.

literature

  • Clemens P. Sidorko: Eliezer Ben Naphtali Herz Treves as a pioneer of Jewish book printing in Zurich, Tiengen and Basel around 1560. In: Aschkenas. Volume 17, No. 2, 2010, pages 457-472, ISSN  1865-9438 (online), ISSN  1016-4987 (print), doi : 10.1515 / ASCH.2010.457
  • Dieter Petri: The Hebrew printing house in the 16th century. In: The Tiengen Jews. Writings of the Working Group for Regional History eV No. 4, Konstanz, 1982, pp. 129–131.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JewishEncyclopedia.com: Article Treves
  2. ↑ Clemens P. Sidorko: Eliezer Ben Naphtali Herz Treves as a pioneer of Jewish book printing in Zurich, Tiengen and Basel around 1560. In: Aschkenas. Volume 17, No. 2, 2010, pages 457-472, ISSN  1865-9438 (online), ISSN  1016-4987 (print), doi : 10.1515 / ASCH.2010.457
personal data
SURNAME Ben Naphtali Heart Treves, Eliezer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eliezer from Frankfurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rabbi, scholar and printer
DATE OF BIRTH 1498
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH 1567
Place of death Frankfurt am Main