Berlin, Naḥman Ben Simhaḥ

A polemical writer against reform; lived at Lissa, Germany, at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. His literary activity was wholly devoted to the cause of orthodoxy, opposing steadfastly and systematically all the attempts at the reform of Judaism, which were so marked a characteristic of his time. To this purpose he wrote the following polemical works: "'En Mishpaṭ" (The Critical Eye of Judgment), directed against the editors of the Hebrew periodical "Ha-Meassef," and especially against Aaron Wolfssohn (Berlin, 1796); "Keter Torah" (The Crown of the Law), an introduction to the "Ḥawwot Da'at" of Jacob b. Moses of Lissa (Dyhernfurth, 1810); "Judah," against the innovators (Berlin, 1818); "Kaddur Ḳaṭan" (The Small Globe), against several works by different reform writers (Berlin, 1819); "'Et le-Dabber" (Time to Speak Out), on the traditions of oral law, as well as on the necessity of having the prayers in Hebrew (Berlin, 1819); "Simḥah" (Joy), a call to unity in religious affairs (Berlin, 1819).

Bibliography:

  * Fürst, Bibliotheca Judaica, i. 110.



L. G. M. B.