Moses Hirschel

Moses Hirschel (born September 13, 1754 in Breslau ; † 1823 ) was a German enlightener , writer and chess author.

Life

Hirschel was a representative of the Haskala of the Breslau Jews and was born in 1754 as the son of a rifle supplier. First he received a Talmudic training, then turned to the European Enlightenment , whose ideas he appropriated as an autodidact . After his brief activity as a clerk, he made several trips that took him to Berlin and Holland, among others. He then became court master for a few years . From 1773 Hirschel resided in his hometown again as a private scholar and publicist and lived from teaching chess, as an antiquarian and from his literary work. At the beginning of 1791 he applied for a teaching post at the Wilhelmsschule for Jewish children, founded by enlightening-reforming community members with the support of the Prussian authorities. His application for employment to the Silesian Provincial Minister Karl Georg Heinrich von Hoym was rejected by the responsible board of directors, among other things with reference to the consideration of tradition-bound Jews and to avoid existing intra-community tensions. Likewise, his employment in the public education system was rejected due to a lack of "subordination". In 1796, together with a businessman from Breslau, he founded a trading company functioning as a "Commissions Expedition", which he managed alone from the beginning of 1801 after separating from his business partner. Hirschel was baptized a Roman Catholic in 1804 and subsequently took the name Christian Moritz Hirschel .

Hirschel published the first German translation of Gioachino Greco's chess writings , together with a re -edition by Philipp Stamma : The chess of Mr. Giochimo Greco Calabrois and the chess game secrets of the Arab Philipp Stamma translated, improved and reworked according to a completely new method to make the players easier (Breslau 1784, reprint Zurich: Olms 1979 and 1987). Hirschel's translation of the two chess classics was important for the popularization of algebraic notation in Germany.

Works

• The chess of Mr. Gioachino Greco Calabrois and the chess game secrets of the Arab Philipp Stamma , Drey Theile, Breslau 1784. [SBBKP: Os 15808]
• Struggle of the Jewish hierarchy with reason , Breslau bey Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn 1788, 103 p. [SBBKP: Ez 710]
• Jewish intolerance and fanaticism in Breslau , in: Truth and Freymüthigkeit in sisterly embrace, ed. by Johann Joseph Kausch , 1st vol., Nuremberg 1789, pp. 48–85.
• About the premature marriages of the Jewish nation; viewed physically, politically and pedagogically , in: Freymüthige Unterhaltungen About the latest incidents of our age, the customs and manners of people; compiled by some German and Polish patriots, and edited by Johann Joseph Kausch, Vol. I., Leipzig 1790, pp. 60–94. [SBBKP: Nq 13172]
• Patriotic remarks About the small writing: Patriotic acclamation to the gentlemen of the estates of the Breslau district. From now on January 27th 1789 , Breslau can be found at the author's expense in: Gottlieb Loewe: Breslau 1790, pp. 3-36.
• About the game of chess , in: Cheerful conversations about the latest incidents of our age, the customs and ways of human behavior; compiled by some German and Polish patriots, and edited by Johann Joseph Kausch, 2nd volume, Leipzig 1791 (actually 1790)
• On the game of chess, its use, use and abuse, discussed psychologically, morally and scientifically , Breslau 1791.
• Biography of the Jewish scholar and poet Ephraim Moses Kuh . In: Ephraim Moses Cow. Poems left behind. Edited by Carl Wilhelm Ramler, 2 vol., Zurich 1792. 1 vol., Pp. 40–152. [SBBKP: Ym 5721-1]
• Apology of human rights Or philosophically critical illumination of the text: About the physical and moral constitution of today's Jews , Zurich (Orell, Geßner, Füßli and Comp.) 1793, XXXVI, 215 S. [SBBKP: Ez 740]
• Moses Hirschel's lessons for chess players and the discovery of the chess game secrets of their gentlemen Gisachino Greco Calabrois and the Arab Philipp Stamma, improved and reworked according to a completely new method to make the game easier , Leipzig 1795 [1. Ed. 1784] [SBBKP: Os 15810]

literature

• S. Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography , Volume 3, p. 128

Web links

• Isidore Singer, Bernhard Templer:  HIRSCHEL, MOSES (CHRISTIAN MORITZ). In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.
• Hirschel's biography on Haskala.net at the University of Potsdam