Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 6.djvu/76

46 Gopher- Wood G-ordon, Ijeon

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

46

Others think that "gofer" can best be explained from the Assyro-Babylonian literature. Cheyne, starting from the assumption that the Hebrew nar- rative of the Deluge is a mere translation from some similar Babylonian document, supposes that the passage under discussion read in the original " gu- shure is erini " (cedar-beams). He thinks that first the word "erini" was overlooked by the Hebrew translator, who afterward mistook " gushure " for a tree-name, and accordingly wrote it^ij 'VJ?; next a scribe, whose eye was caught by 133 at the end of the verse, miswrote 1D3 (Stade's " Zeitschrif t, " 1898, p. 163; comp. Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl." «.».). F. Hommel holds the Hebrew lai to be tlie Assyrian " giparu " (reed).

The " kufa " (Arabic, " kuf r " = Hebr. " kofer " = " gofer ") now in use on the rivers and canals of the land that gave birth to the Hebrew narrative of the Deluge are made of willow-branches, palm-leaves, etc., closely interwoven like basket-work, with a coat of bitumen on the inside. This is evidently a very old type of water-craft, suggested by the natu- ral resources of a land devoid of large trees suitable for ship-building, but having an abundance of lighter material and bitumen. Such must have been the ark of Noah (Hastings, "Diet. Bible," s.». " Babylonia "). J. Halevy implicitly adopts the same view ("Recherches Bibliques," i. 130).

The reading of the Masoretic text is correct, at least in the consonants. It is none the less certain that in course of time the Assyrian "iSJ (whether first Hebraized " gefer " or " gofer ") became obscure to the Hebrews. This might have necessitated the addition of an explicative clause with a Hebrew word as a substitute for 1BJ, viz., D'Jp- This, when the Hebrews had become familiar with the Pheni- cian methods of ship-building, came by degrees to be considered as an absurdity, and was altered into D'lp, much against the usage of the Hebrew lan- guage and in violation of the most elementary rules of composition, yet seemingly quite in agreement with tlie early Jewish methods of emendation.

For passages of the Bible supporting, though only indirectly, the identification of "gofer" with "reed," see the Bible commentaries to Ex. ii. 3, Isa. xviii. 2, and Job xl. 26, and the Hebrew lexicons s.v. XDJ and n3X. See also Papyrus ; Rbbd; Ship and Shipping.

E. G. n. H. H.

GORDIN, JACOB (JAKOV MIKHAILO- VICH) : Yiddish playwright and reformer; born May 1, 1853, inMirgorod, government of Poltava. He received a good education and acquired a thorough knowledge of Hebrew. In 1870 he began to contrib- ute articles to various Russian periodicals. His first sketches appeared in "Zarya," the organ of the Liberals of South Russia. In 1880 he wrote for " Nedyelya " a series of short stories of Jewish life, and also a novel entitled "Liberal -Narodnik." For a time Gordin was unofficiallj' the editor of " Yeli- savetgradski Vyestnik " and " Odesskiya Novosti, " to which he contributed weeky f euilletons under the pseudonym " Ivan Koliuchy. "

In 1879 Gordin founded in Yelisavetgrad the rational sect of the Bibleitzy ("Bible Brother- hood "), which broke away from dogmatic Judaism.

He remained the moving spirit of the fraternity throughout its short career. In 1890 he emigrated, to New Y'ork.

In America Gordin entered a new field of litera- ture, becoming a Yiddish playwright. In this ca- pacity he has done much to improve the Jewish, stage, which, largely through his efforts, has attained a reputable position. Gordin is a prolific writer, and, since his first play, "Siberia," was produced in 1891, has composed about sixty Jewish dramas and vaudevilles. While some of these belong to the poorest kind of literature, others have scarcely their equal on the Jewish stage, and may justly be ranked among the higher productions of dramatic art. Gordin's best plays are : " The Yiddish King Lear," "Mirele Effros," "Shechite," "Sappho," "Gott, Mensch un Tai wel, " " Kreutzer Sonata, " " Yetomoh. "

Gordin has also written in Y'iddish a number of sketches, some of which are pathetic, and some grotesquely humorous.

Bibliography : H. Hapgood, Tlis Spirit of the Ghetto, New York, 1903. H. R. W. A. M.

GORDON, DAVID B. DOB BAEB: Russian journalist; born in Podmerecz, near Wilna, in 1826; died in Lyck, Prussia, May 21, 1886. At the age of ten he went to Wilna, where he studied in the ye- shibah. When eighteen he settled in Sergei (Serhei), government of Suvalki, where he married and con- tinued his studies, becoming a teacher. About 1850 he left Russia for England. While passing through Lyck he made the acquaintance of Eliezer Lipman Silberman, who was then planning the foundation of a Hebrew periodical. After three years of hardship in Liverpool he became a school- teacher, but was finally forced by ill health to re- linquish that position. When in 1856 Silberman began to publish the first Hebrew weekly, "Ha- Maggid," he invited Gordon to act as his assistant editor. Gordon went to Lyck in 1858, and, in addi- tion to his editorial duties, assisted Silberman in the formation and conduct of the society Mekize Nir- damim (1864), established for the purpose of pub- lishing old and valuable Hebrew works. For a short time Gordon edited the "Maggid Mishneh," a liter- ary supplement to the above periodical, and for many years he edited the German triweekly "Lycker Anzeiger." After Silberman's death in 1883 Gordon succeeded him as editor of "Ha- Maggid. " Gordon was one of the pioneers in the Zionist movement, and one of the intellectual leaders of the Chovevei Zion. In 1884 he went to London as the representative of the Zionists to congratulate Sir Moses Montefiore on the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

Gordon translated the following: under the title " Masse'e Yisrael," Israel b. Joseph Benjamin's (Ben- jamin II. 's) account of his travels through Asia and Africa (Lyck, 1854) ; "Milhemet ha-Or weha-Ho- shek," describing the trial of S. Brunner and Ignaz Kurandain Vienna (from the German ; ib. 1860) ; and "Mosheh wi-Yerushalayim," on Sir Moses Monte- fiore's journey to Jerusalem (from tlie English; ib. 1867). He wrote "Darke ha-Refu'ah," on popular medicine and hygiene, part i. (ib. 1870); several biographies which appeared in "Ha-Maggid" amd