Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport

For the Lebanese avant-garde magazine, seeShi'r.

Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport
שלמה יהודה כהן רפאפורט
Portrait byAntonín Machek
Born	Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport June 1, 1786 Lemberg,Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Died	October 15, 1867 (aged 81)
Nationality	Galician,Czech
Occupation(s)	Rabbi, Jewish Scholar
Known for	Founder of the newWissenschaft des Judentumsmovement
Signature

Title pageof Rapoport'sErekh Millin

Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport(Hebrew:שלמה יהודה כהן רפאפורט;June 1, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was aGalicianandCzechrabbiandJewish scholar. Rapoport was known by an acronym "Shir", שי "ר occasionally שיל" ר, formed by the initial letters of his Hebrew name "Sh" elomo "Y" ehuda "R" apoport. Shir literally means "song" in Hebrew. He was one of the founders of the newWissenschaft des Judentumsmovement.

Life

Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport was born inLemberg,Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.His father, Rabbi Aharon HayimRappaportwas a renowned scholar, and his primary teacher. Rappaport was also recognized as anillui.In 1810, he married Franziska Freide Heller, the daughter of the well-knownAryeh Leib Heller.He died inPrague.

After various experiences in business, Rapoport became rabbi ofTarnopol(1837) and ofPrague(1840). He had been "thrown upon his own resources" about 1817, and became the collector of the meat-tax on farmers. Because of his work onSaadia Gaon,see below, he received recognition in the scholarly world and gained "many enthusiastic friends", especiallyS. D. Luzzatto,leading to his appointment as Rabbi.

Works

Rapoport was instrumental in publishing his father-in-law's workAvnei Miluim,writing the index, sources, and numerous comments.

His chief work was the first part of an (unfinished) encyclopaedia "Erekh Millin", 1852. Equally notable were his biographies ofSaadia Gaon,Nathan ben Jehiel(author of theArukh),Hai Gaon,Eleazar Kalir,and others. His early writings were poems and translations. Thereafter his publications showed "evidence of marked critical ability". In 1824 he wrote an article forBikkure ha-'Ittimon the independent Jewish tribes ofArabiaandAbyssinia.His work on Saadia Gaon and his times was published in the same journal in 1829, the first of a series of his biographical works on the medieval Jewish sages.

Ten Sephirot as vowel sounds

Rapoport notes that according to theMasoretesthere are ten vowel sounds. He suggests that the passage in theSefer Yetzirah,which discusses the manipulation of letters in the creation of the world, can be better understood if the Sephirot refer to vowel sounds. He posits that the wordsephirahin this case is related to the Hebrew wordsippur( "to retell" ). His position is based on his belief that mostKabbalisticworks written afterSefer Yetzirah(including theZohar) are forgeries.

External links

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Rapoport, Samuel Judah Löb".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 909.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Solomon Judah Löb Rapoport".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.