Naftali heart Homberg

Naftali Herz Homberg (born September 1749 in Lieben near Prague, later part of Prague; † August 24, 1841 in Prague ) was a supporter of the Haskala Jewish enlightenment movement .

Life

As a youth he visited the yeshivot of Prague, Pressburg and Groß-Glogau , after which he moved to Breslau . In 1767 he secretly began to learn German and later studied languages ​​and mathematics in Berlin and Hamburg. Influenced by the ideas of the enlightener Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Homberg turned to education and in 1779 became tutor of Josef Mendelssohn, son of Moses Mendelssohn . In 1782 he moved to Vienna , where, as a result of Joseph II's tolerance patents, state training initiatives were promoted. 1783–1784 Homberg taught at the Jewish school in Trieste . However, his efforts to obtain a chair at a university failed because he was Jewish.

In 1787 he was appointed superintendent of the German-speaking Jewish schools in Galicia by the Austrian authorities and supervised the censorship of Jewish books. In a letter to the Galician rabbis in 1788, he suggested adapting Jewish educational principles to European culture, with the teaching of Hebrew grammar, the German language and manual skills being promoted, and the importance of training the poor. In total, Homberg founded 107 school classes and schools in Galicia, including a teacher training college in Lviv . Most religious Jews refused to send their children to these schools, which they saw as a means of forced conversion to Christianity. Homberg threatened the rabbis that the government would enforce his principles if they were not prepared to do so themselves. He advocated the abolition of all outward appearances that distinguished Jews from non-Jews, such as beards and traditional clothing . He did not hesitate to report to the authorities and put pressure on religious Jews who refused to obey his rules.

As an expert on Jewish affairs in government circles , Homberg was temporarily called to Vienna in 1793 to develop proposals for the reorganization of Jewish life, which served as the basis for the Bohemian system patent of 1797. During this time he compiled a list of Jewish books that should be banned or censored . This included Kabbalistic works, most of the Hasidic scriptures and also the traditional prayer book .

In 1808 Homberg published a catechism for young people in Hebrew and German entitled Imre Schefer ("beautiful words"). In addition, Homberg wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch and on Isaiah , Jeremiah and Job , which were published in Vienna from 1817-1818.

Homberg was unpopular, even hated, by almost all of his Jewish contemporaries. Even Moses Mendelssohn was critical of the extreme form Homberg used to work with the authorities to enforce his principles. Heinrich Graetz described him as a morally weak personality in the Enlightenment environment.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Homberg, heart . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1863, pp. 253–255 ( digitized version ).
• Adolf Brüll :  Homberg, heart . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 38 f.
• Georg Herlitz, Bruno Kirschner (greeting): Jüdisches Lexikon . Jewish publishing house , Berlin 1927 (volume 2), column 1657 f.
• Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography . Chernivtsi 1928 (Volume 3), p. 158 f.
• Heinz Mosche Graupe:  Homberg, heart. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 584 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin from the 18th to the 20th century. Volume 1: A-I. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 573.
• Michael Berenbaum , Fred Skolnik (eds.): Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Macmillan Reference, Detroit 2007 (Volume 9), pp. 504 f.

Web links

• Herz Homberg - biography (University of Potsdam)
• Isidore Singer, A. Kurrein: Homberg, heart . In Jewish Encyclopedia . Retrieved November 23, 2009.
• Ben Jakir: about truths of faith and moral doctrines for the Israelite youth in questions and answers , Vienna, 1814, e-book of the University Library Vienna ( e-books on demand )