- Abraham Harkavy
Avraam/Albert Yakovlevich Harkavy ( _ru. Авраа́м Я́ковлевич Гарка́ви), or Avraham Eliyahu ben Yaakov Harkavy (in Hebrew) (1835–1919) was a
Russia n-Jew ish historian and orientalist.Biography
Harkavy was born in 1835 in
Novogrudok (in modern-dayBelarus ). He studied initially in theVolozhin yeshiva and graduated from the Teacher's Institute inVilna . In 1843, he enrolled at theUniversity of St Petersburg , where he completed a master's course majoring in history. He continued his studies inBerlin andParis . In 1876 he was appointed head of the Oriental Division in theImperial Public Library , an astonishing achievement for a Jew underCzar ist society's anti-Semitic policies. He remained in this position for the rest of his life.Works
Harkavy was a prolific author, both as an individual and in collaboration with other Russian-Jewish scholars. He wrote in Russian, German, and most notably in Hebrew, which had only recently been revived as a language of common discourse. Among his theories, he speculated that certain groups of Eastern European
Jew s, such as theKrymchaks ,Karaims and even manyAshkenazim , might be descended from theKhazars . This theory, largely debunked by modern genetic testing, inspiredArthur Koestler 's "The Thirteenth Tribe", which took Harkavy's hypothesis to an extreme. In the course of his Khazar research Harkavy refuted many ofAvraham Firkovich 's theories and exposed some of his forgeries.Among his numerous works in Russian,
Hebrew , German, and French, there should be mentioned his "Ha-Yehudim u-Sefat ha-Slawim," studies in the early history of theJews of Russia , first published in Russian by the Imperial Russian Archeological Society under the title "Ob Yazykye Yevreyev," etc. (St. Petersburg, 1865). Harkavy's aim here was to prove that the first Jews who settled in South Russia did not come from Germany, as was supposed by Grätz and other historians, but fromGreece through theBlack Sea region and theCrimea , and from the Orient by way of theCaucasus . He furthermore showed that Slavonic was the language spoken by the Jews in the Slavonic countries until the arrival of German Jews in great numbers during theCrusades . He proved that the Jewish writers in Russia and other Slavonic countries used Slavonic words and phrases in theirBiblical andTalmudic commentaries. The Slavonic names among the Slavonic Jews, the Slavonic inscriptions in Hebrew characters on Polish coins, the tradition among the Russian Jews that their ancestors spoke Slavonic,and the testimony of early writers, are effectively cited by him in support of his contention.Besides this work he published:
* "Skazaniya Yevreiskikh Pisatelei, o Chazarskom Tzarstvye" St. Petersburg, 1874.
* "Chazarskiya Pisma" (in "Yevreiskaya Biblioteka," 1881-82).
* "Rus i Russkiye v Srednevyekovoi Yevreiskoi Literaturye" (in "Voskhod," 1881-82).
* "Istoricheski Ocherk Sinoda Chetyriokh Stran" (in "Voskhod," 1884).
* "Les Mots Egyptiens de la Bible" (reprint from "Journal Asiatique," Paris, 1870).
* "Zikkaron la-Rishonim we-gam la-Aḥaronim. Studien und Mittheilungen aus der St. Petersburg Kaiserlichen Bibliothek." 5 vols. St. Petersburg, 1879-82. Contains biographies and works ofSamuel ha-Nagid ,Samuel ben Hophni ,Saadia Gaon ,Hai Gaon , and othergeonim , from manuscripts in the St. Petersburg library, annotated by Harkavy.
* "Neuaufgefundene Hebräische Bibelhandschriften" (paper read before the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, April, 1884; published in "Zapiski . . . Akademii," series vii., vol. 32, No. 8).
* "O Yazykye Yevreyev Zhivshikh v Drevneye Vremya na Russi." St. Petersburg. 1886.
* Notes to the Russian translation ofHeinrich Graetz 's "Geschichte." 2 vols., 1889-1902.
* Notes to the Russian translation ofGustav Karpeles 's "History of Jewish Literature." St. Petersburg, 1889-90.
* Notes and additions to P. Rabinovich'sHebrew translation of Grätz's "Geschichte," vols. iii.-viii. Warsaw. 1893-99.Harkavy has contributed many valuable articles on the early history of the Jews in Russia to:
* "Meassef Niddaḥim" (supplement to "Ha-Meliẓ ", parts i. and ii.)
* "Ha-Karmel," 1862 et seq.
* "Monatsschrift," 1883 et seq.
* "Russko-Yevreiski Arkhiv," 1883
* "Brüll's "Jahrbücher," 1876
* "Voskhod," 1881-84
* "Ben 'Ammi," part i., St. Petersburg, 1887
* "Ḥadashim gam Yeshanim," in "Ha-Miẓpah," vol. i.
* "Ha-Asif," vol.i.
* "Keneset Yisrael," i. and iii.
* "Ha-Karmel" (Russian), 1865, etc.In 1910 the scientific world celebrated Harkavy's 75th birthday by issuing a memorial book. The contributors were the world's best known scientists in Judaica and orientology. Attached to the book was a list of 399 works by Harkavy.
See also
*
Harkavy References
*Gubernatis, Ecrivains du Jour;
*Schaff, Dict. of Living Divines;
*Reines, Dor we-Ḥakamaw, Cracow, 1890. A complete bibliography of Harkavy's writings is now (1906) in course of publication by David Maggid of St. Petersburg.
*JewishEncyclopediaExternal links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=292&letter=H Jewish Encyclopedia: HARKAVY, ALBERT (ABRAHAM YAKOVLEVICH)]
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