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486 Bamberg-er, Seligman

Ban

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

tradesman, pupils came to him from

all

parts of Ger-

Among them

were some who later attained to prominence, especially in Orthodox circles. Through contact with his pupils, who prepared for the university while pursuing their rabbinical studies, Bamberger gradually came to see that a representative of Orthodoxy ought to have some knowledge of secular science also, though he himself possessed no systematic knowledge of the German language or of literature in general. Though no profound scholar, he was endowed with a tine tenacious memory which stood him in good stead in his endeavors to familiarize himself with what he called "secular knowledge." In 1836 the Bavarian government convoked an assembly of Jewish notables to report on various points in the Bamberger Jewish religious law. The Orthodox and staked their hopes on Bamberger, Reform in whom they delegated in place of AbraBavaria. ham Bing, rabbi at Wiirzburg, who

many.

was unable

to represent them.

It

was

duo to Bamberger's energy and tenacity of purpose that the results of the meeting accorded with the wishes of the Orthodox party and not of the liberal-minded, who had expected much from it. In consequence of his success, Bamberger's friends and colleagues begged him to become a candidate for the rabbinate of Wiirzburg, which Bing's death in 1839 had left vacant. By ^ts choice of a rabbi, chiefly

Wilrzburg, the seat of a university attended by many Jewish students of theology, would in a certain sense be a determining factor in the conflict between Reform and Orthodoxy. Bamberger's victory after a long and severe struggle had in fact been the triumph of Orthodoxy. As soon as Bamberger assumed the office of district rabbi at Wilrzburg (April, 1840), he opened a yeshibah, probably the last important one in Germany. Through his learning and extreme piety, but chiefly through the real nobilit}' District and modesty of his nature, he exerted Rabbi at a great influence on those who came Wiirzburg-. into personal relations with him his

pupils especially, to whom his attitude that of a fatherly friend, loved and honored him. His capacity for work was remarkable. His duties as rabbi of a large congregation and district, and as director of a rabbinical school, did not keep him from devoting time to other philanthropic and There was a great lack of Jewish practical affairs. teachers in Bavaria, and, after exerting himself two years in promoting the establishment of a Jewish teachers' training institution, in 1864 he succeeded. He obtained the necessary money, undertook the whole organization of the work, and even provided for the board and lodging of the pupils, who were generally poor. Bamberger worked also in behalf of the proper education of children, and by 1855 he obtained from the Wiirzburg congregation enough money for a Jewish elementary school, one of the

was

of its kind in Germany. Bamberger was one of the last rabbinical writers Though his works show him to have in Germany. first

been a great Talmudist, they have a practical end, the instruction of the people in the scrupulous adherence to the Jewish laws as codified in the Shulhan 'Aruk.

His

first

486 Meleket Kannaim " (The Work 2d ed. Hanover, 1860). easy form the Talmudio-rabbinical

work was

"

of the Zealous, Altona, 1853



,

puts in clear, regulations for the making of Torah-scrolls, tefillin, and "mezuzot," and thoroughly explains them. It

The book

meant for the writers of the details concerning the preparation of the parchment to be used, the mode Another work by Bamof writing, and so on. berger, a short book written in the GerHis Works, man language in Hebrew characters, " is entitled "Amirah le-Bet Ya'akob (An Address to the House of Jacob Fiirth, 1858, and several other editions). It is on the three ceremonial chief duties of Jewish housewives, Hallah, Niddah, and the kindling of the Sabbath light (see Sabbath, Lights of), and has done more than the oratory of Orthodox rabbis for the preservation of these cusis

specially

Torah-scrolls, giving

all



toms. 1863)

is

Bamberger's " Moreh la-Zobehim " (Fiirth, a good text-book on the slaughtering of ani-

mals for food, and gives many learned elaborations "Naof the ritual laws concerning "shehitah." halat Debash " (Inheritance of Honey, 1867), a compendium of the laws concerning Halizah, is intended mainly for scholars; while the commentary "Yizhak Yerannen" (Isaac Will Rejoice), (Fiirth, 1861" 62) on Isaac b. Judah ibn Gayyat's " Sha'are Simhah This is of a wholly Talmudic-scientific character. last is an excellent work of great use for the proper understanding and appreciation of the old system of " Kore be-Emet, " in two volumes (vol. codifications. vol. ii., Mayence, i., Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1871; 1878), is devoted to those passages of the Bible which the Talmud and Midrash explain either by the substitution of a consonant, the change of a vowel, or the transfer of letters. Bamberger points out that in these cases the Talmud and the Midrash do not aim at critical textual changes, their method being merely that of their general hermeneutics. On the whole, Bamberger's view is correct but his attempts to prove the necessity for the method from the con;

text of the passages are unscientific. Bamberger wrote a pamphlet on the emancipation of the Jews, in which he gives a clear and trustworthy statement of the attitude of the Talmud toward non -Jews. The occasion of the pamphlet was the action of the Bavarian chamber in 1850 in regard to granting civic rights to the Jews. Bamberger's energies were bent on the one task of preserving and spreading Orthodox Judaism. He fanatic, however and his disputes with his opponents never became personal. His attitude in regard to the question of the withdrawal of Jews from the community affords an instance

was no



The of this moderation. The question arose Question of when on July 28, 1876, the German Withlaw permitted Jews to secede from drawal. their religious community. Samson Raphael

Hirsch thereupon declared

was the duty of the Orthodox to separate from an un-Orthodox community; and this led to conflicts in many congregations in Germany but the final result was unfavorable to Hirsch, whose efforts that, it



were limited to a comparatively small This was due chiefly to Bamberger for his reputation as a great Talmudist and as a veteran in for separation

field.