- Jacob Ben Moses Bachrach
Jacob Ben Moses Bachrach (born in Seiny, in the governorate of Suwalki, which is now in
Poland ,May 9 ,1824 ; died in Bialystok Dec. 29, 1896) was a noted apologist ofRabbinic Judaism .He received his earliest instruction from his grandfather, Judah Bachrach. For years he was superintendent of a Hebrew printing-establishment in
Königsberg , where he edited, among other works, the "Ṭurim" ofJacob ben Asher , and added notes to the same. Later on he became manager of a distillery inSevastopol , where he had the opportunity to develop into an assiduous student of Karaitic literature, and where he engaged in controversies with the representatives of the local Karaitic community. His works are chiefly devoted to a defense of rabbinical tradition against Karaism. In 1882 he went toPalestine in the interest of colonization.Published works
*"Ha-yaḥas Liketab Ashuri" (History of the
Assyrian Script), Warsaw, 1854, a polemical treatise againstElia Levita 's theory that vowel points and accents originated in post-Talmudic times.
*To the same purpose is devoted his "Ishtadalut 'im Shadal" (An Engagement with ShaDaL) , 2 vols., Warsaw, 1896—in which he again attempts to refute Shadal/Luzzatto's view, based on that of Levita, that the vowel points are the invention of theMasoretes .
*"Maämare Jacob ha-Bakri" (Essays of Jacob Bachrach), Warsaw, 1893, 2 vols., is a work devoted to proving that theHebrew calendar is of ancient origin, and he opposes the arguments of the Karaites, of Slonimsky, and of others, who asserted that the ancient Israelites reckoned by the solar year.
*"Ha-Massa' la-Areẓ ha-Ḳedoshah", his description of his journey to Palestine, 2d ed., Kiev, 1884.ources
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