Moritz Heidenheim

Moritz Heidenheim (born September 23, 1824 in Worms ; † October 12, 1898 in Zurich ) was a socialist Judeo-Christian scholar with special merits, above all in Samaritan research .

Life

Moritz Heidenheim ( Moses Heidenheim ) came from an Orthodox Jewish family in Worms (as the eldest of nine children of Heinrich Hirsch - cantor and slaughterer of the Jewish community of Worms - and the gituna Susanna Heidenheim, née Durlach) and actually wanted to become a rabbi .

Shortly after receiving his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Gießen in 1851, he converted to Christianity , according to his own statement based on reading Maimonides and Spinoza .

In 1852 he left Germany and studied Anglican theology at King's College in London . After graduation and ordination as an Anglican priest in 1859, he worked in various parishes in London. In addition to his community work, he researched Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts in various European libraries and, between 1862 and 1864, devoted himself several times to the study of manuscripts in Rome in search of various manuscripts.

Since 1864 he lived as the Anglican chaplain of the English congregation in Zurich and taught for more than three decades at the university's theological faculty as a private lecturer on the Old Testament, rabbinic literature and Semitic languages, albeit with little response: he had hardly any listeners and the theological faculty mistrusted equally to his person and his teaching. Heidenheim's hopes of attaining a professorship or at least the title of associate professor failed due to resistance from the faculty. His "rabbinical method" was criticized and he was thought to be a crypto-Jew. He was ignored by Jews because of his conversion, and by fellow Christians because of his Jewish origins.

Moritz Heidenheim's valuable and extensive private library, the basis of which he inherited from his father (Hebraica, Judaica, approx. 2800 old Hebrew prints and manuscripts, including siddurim and machsorim of the most diverse rites, which may have come from Wolf Heidenheim's possession , as well as works on philosophy , Theology, linguistics, history, mathematics and astronomy as well as Latin prints, letters from Moritz Heidenheim, materials on the work and preparatory work, including a biography of Spinoza), is now part of the Zurich Central Library .

Heidenheim's publications

• A few words for meditation in connection with the cholera at Zurich, Zurich 1867
• Anglican Church Leaves for English and American Travelers with special reference to the English church at Zurich, Zurich 1887–1898.
• Bibliotheca Samaritana
• I. The Samaritan Pentateuch Version. The Genesis in the Hebrew square script using the Barbernische Triglotte and with an introduction, critical notes, scholia and supplements provided by Dr. M. Heidenheim, Leipzig 1884.
• II. The Samaritan Liturgy (a selection of the most important texts) in Hebrew square script from the manuscripts of the British Museum and other libraries, ed. u. with introduction, supplements, translations of the most difficult texts and scholias v. Dr. M. Heidenheim 1st issue, Leipzig 1885.
• III. The Samaritan's Commentar Marqah's. Books I, II, IV and excerpts from books III and VI, in the Hebrew square script with introduction, translation, notes and appendices ed. by Dr. M. Heidenheim, Weimar 1896.
• David Kimchi, in: Realencyclopadie for Protestant Theology and Church, 1st ed. 1862-1864, Vol. 19, Supplementary Volume 1 (1864-1868), pp. 292-294.
• Can't we see the signs of the times? Speech given at the grave of James Sadleir, who was murdered on June 4th and buried on June 15th on the burial ground in Rehalp, Zurich 1881.
• The new edition of the verse. Sam. on Genesis (Bibl. Sam. I), in: ZDMG XL (1886) pp. 516-523.
• On the importance of Samaritan literature for Semitic linguistics, exegesis and the history of dogma, with special consideration for the writings of Markah, in: Negotiations of the thirty-ninth assembly of German philologists and school men in Zurich, Leipzig 1888, pp. 148-160.
• Investigations on the Synagoga Magna, in: Theologische Studien und Richter 26 (1853), pp. 93-100.
• Wicliff's role models, in: Theologisches Literaturblatt, gre. Ernst Zimmermann, continued. v. Karl Zimmermann, No. 65, 37 (1860), pp. 769-775.
• German quarterly for English theological research and criticism, ed. v. Moritz Heidenheim, Vol. 1 and 2, Gotha 1861–1865; later under d. Title quarterly for German and English theological research and criticism, Vol. 3–5.2, Zurich 1867–1873.

literature

• Olivia Franz-Klauser, A Life Between Judaism and Christianity , Zurich 2008
• this., Moritz Heidenheim - a forgotten scholar, in: Kirche und Israel 18 (2003), pp. 31–45.
• this., Samaritan Research in the 19th Century: The Beginnings of Historical Criticism in the Shadow of Religious Prejudices, shown at Moritz Heidenheim's (1824–1898) reception, in: Pardes. Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies EV, Issue 12 (2006), pp. 112-137.
• Olivia Franz-Klauser:  HEIDENHEIM, Moritz. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 544-549.

Web links

• www.heidenheim.ch
• Estate in the Zurich Central Library
• Overview of Moritz Heidenheim's courses at the University of Zurich (summer semester 1865 to winter semester 1898)