Jekuthiel Blitz Explained

Jekuthiel ben Isaac Blitz (b. Wittmund, Germany, fl. 1670s) was a rabbi who made the first whole translation of the Hebrew Bible into Yiddish.[1]

Blitz was a corrector of the press in the Hebrew printing-office of Uri Phoebus (Faibush) Halevi in Amsterdam and was commissioned by him to make a translation which finished printing in late 1678.

The translation which was the first of its kind of the entire Old Testament has three introductions; one in Hebrew and one in German written by Blitz and the third in Judæo-German by the printer together with letters patent of the king of Poland Johann III Sobieski and approbations by various rabbis. Blitz also translated into Judæo-German Levi ben Gerson's "To'aliyyot" on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, published together with the preceding work.[2]

Since Blitz was not an accomplished Hebraist he relied on other translations into Germanic languages, Luther's German translation and the Dutch Statenvertaling.[3] [4]

Notes and References

  1. http://cf.uba.uva.nl/nl/publicaties/treasures/text/t20.html Rosenthaliana: Two Yiddish Bibles printed in Amsterdam
  2. Web site: BLITZ, JEKUTHIEL BEN ISAAC - JewishEncyclopedia.com. www.jewishencyclopedia.com. 2016-10-04.
  3. Web site: Rosenthaliana: Two Yiddish Bibles printed in Amsterdam. cf.uba.uva.nl. 2016-10-04.
  4. Introduction to Old Yiddish literature p 124 Jean Baumgarten, Jerold C. Frakes - 2005 "Jekuthiel Blitz went so far as to praise the more accessible Christian translations, in comparison to which the Yiddish translations were inarticulate."