Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/218

180 Abraham

Asher,

Asher

b.

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

David

"happy," whence the great Assyrian god Asshur. But how was this name Asher suggested? A clue perhaps afforded in the fact pointed out by V. Muller ("Asien und Europa," p. 236), that • Aseru " appears on Egyptian monuments as the name of a land and people in western Galilee in the fourteenth century b.c. It is conceivable that Israelitish settlers in that region adopted in this modified form the name of their new residence. Such a thing was not in itself impossible, since there is evidence that several of the tribes had territorial designations given to them after the Hebrew occupation of Canaan. There is, however, still the possibility that this " Aseru " was itself the name of a Hebrew settlement existing from olden time in Palestine and kept up independently of the sojourn in Egypt which ended with the Exodus. In considering these possibilities a good deal must depend upon the analogy of the is

Max

history of the other tribes and their current designations a matter which is itself still very obscure.

—

another hypothesis has been offered. Jastrow suggests ("J. B. L." xi. 120) that the clan Heber of the tribe Asher (I Chron. vii. 31) represents the Chabiri of the El-Amarna Trie tablets, and the brother-clan Malchiel, Still

Asherite Clan Heber.

the Milkili, scriptions.

who

figure in the

same

in-

If this should be correct,

would be drawn that a formidable body of people was pressing upward from southern Palestine two hundred years before the Exodus, and that they finally setthe conclusion

tled in western Galilee

leaving perhaps a trace of temporary settlement in the towns south of Carmel referred to above as being finally occupied by Manasseh. This hypothesis has to contend

their

against the opinion, now somewhat widely held, that the Chabiri were the Hebrews themselves.

Bibliography

Besides the most recent commentaries on the Biblical passages cited above, see Kittel, Geseh. der Hebrder Meyer, Geveh. des Alterthums Wellhausen, Israelitvtche und Jildische Gesch. pp. 15 et seq. Stade, Geseh. des Volkes Israel, i. 172 et seq. Entstehung des Volkes Israel, in Akad. Beden u. Abhandlungen; Jastrow, in J.B.L. xi. 130; Barton, ibid. xv. 174; Bernh. Luther, Die Israel. Stllmme, in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1901, xxi. 12 et seq., 18 et seq., 41 et seq., 51.









J.

JR.

ASHER,

F.

J.

ABRAHAM

McC.

1598-1600 by L. Hulsius," Berlin, 1839; and "Bibliographical Essay on the Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, " Berlin, 1843. Among the works issued by him as publisher are two in particular, for which he earned the gratitude of Hebrew scholars: (1) Benjamin of Tudela's "Masa'ot" (Travels); (2) Con-

"Kore ha-Dorot" (Literary History). The he edited, vocalized, and provided with an exhaustive index of the geographical names (London, 1840); the same in an English translation, with critical notes and commentaries by him, by Rapoport and Zunz (2 vols., Berlin, 1840-41). He thus made accessible to the modern Anglo-Jewish reading pubforte's first

.

that is quite a phenomenon in Hebrew At Asher's initiative and expense, David Cassel revised, edited, and indexed Conforte's "Kore ha-Dorot " one of the very few literary sources for the life and activities of Oriental and African scholars in the two centuries after the Spanish expulsion. lic

a

work

literature.

—

Bibliography



Zeitlin, Bibliotlieca

Hebraiax,

p. 7.

M. B.

J.

ASHER, ANSHEL BEN ISAAC



Preacher

at Prenzlau, Prussia, and teacher in the school founded there by his father. In 1701 he published

at Dessau a collection of discourses under the title of " Shemenah Lahmo " with reference to his name

—

"Asher"

(i»rr?

mDK> IB'KD;

see Gen. xlix.

20)—

consisting of two parts: the first containing some homilies on the Sabbath and the holy days, including

Hanukkah and Purim and the second on the seven solemn occasions of man's life; viz., circumcision, redemption of the first-born, "bar mizwah" (religious majority), marriage, ordination, burial, and res;

urrection. Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, schneider, Cat. Bodl. s.v., p. 748. L. G.

Bibliography:

No.

545;

Stein-

K.

ASHER, ANSHEL BEN JOSEPH.

See

Anschel.

ASHER, ANSHEL, BEN MOSES BAER: Talmudist

lived in the second half of the eighteenth century. He wrote two works: "Ben Emunim (Son of Faith), Furth, 1785; and "Hiddat Shimshon " (Samson's Kiddle), Furth, 1785. The former is a homiletic commentary on the Bible the latter an ethical work, divided into three parts.



(ADOLF)

Publisher, bibliographer, and editor; born at Kammin, Prussia, Aug. 23, 1800; died at Venice, Sept. 1, 1853. He was destined for a commercial career, and was sent

purpose to England. He settled afterward as a jewelry merchant at St. Petersburg, Russia; but on one occasion he happened to buy an old This decided his later career. library. He gave up his former business and devoted himself entirely to bibliography and publishing. In 1830 he removed to Berlin and established himself as a bookseller and publisher; in the former capacity obtaining the valuable agency for the purchase of foreign books for the British Museum. A branch of the firm was accordingly established in London. It was through the influence of Asher that Joseph Zedner was appointed curator of the Hebrew books of the for this

Museum. Asher was the author of: "Bibliographical Essay on the Collection of Voyages and Travels Published British

180

Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 61.

col. 752;

l- g.

I.

ASHER, ANSHEL BEN WOLF.

See

Zedner,

Be.

Wolf,

Asher ben Anshel.

ASHER, ASHER:

Physician;

born Feb.

16,

Glasgow, Scotland; died Jan. 7, 1889, at London, England. He was educated at the high school and university of his native city, and was the first Jew in Scotland to enter the medical profession. In 1862 he went to London and became medical officer of the Jewish Board of Guardians, and in 1866 was appointed secretary of the Great Synagogue. About this time the idea of a union of the various London synagogues had been put forward, chiefly by Lionel L. Cohen and Asher devoted himself to the project with intense energy. In March, 1871, he became first secretary of the United Synagogue, 1837, at



contributing largely to the success of that institu-