Eliezer Zweifel

Eliezer Zweifel (1815–1888) (Hebrew: אליעזר צבי צְוַויפֶל) was a Russian-Jewish writer who was associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement (haskalah). Zweifel's writings on Hasidic Judaism was considered favorable toward the movement. His book Shalom al Yisrael is believed to be one the earliest academic works on the Hasidic movement.[1]

Eliezer Zvi Zweifel in 1876

Biography

Eliezer Zweifel was raised in the Mogilev region of White Russia. While in his twenties, Zweifel moved to Odessa, where for sixteen years he worked as a religious preacher and a tutor. From 1853 to 1873, Zweifel was appointed as a Talmud teacher at Beth Midrash L'Rabbanim in Zhitomir, an institution associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement (haskalah). Zweifel's writings often contained anti-Haskalah statements, and drew criticism from other Haskalah authors including Mendele Mokher Sefarim. Zweifel authored a number of books and contributed dozens of essays to the Jewish periodicals of his time.[1]

Books
  • Minnim V"ugav ("Psaltery and Harp" [Vilna, 1853])
  • Tushiya (Zhitomir, 1867)
  • Shalom 'Al Yisrael ("Peace upon Israel" [Zhitomir, 1868])—his magnum opus
  • Heshbono Shel 'Olam ("An Accounting of the World" [Warsaw, 1878])
  • Sanegor ("Defender" [Warsaw, 1885])—a defense of the Talmud

References
  1. Pollack, Gloria Wiederkehr. "Eliezer Zvi Hacohen Zweifel: Forgotten Father of Modern Scholarship on Hasidism." In Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, vol. 49, pp. 87–115. American Academy for Jewish Research, 1982.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.