Menahem Amelander Explained

Menahem Mann Ben Solomon ha-Levi Amelander was a Dutch-Jewish author and historian of the 18th century. He died before 1767.

Life

His 1743 Old Yiddish chronicle, Sheyris Yisroel (Remnant of Israel) is a continuation of his Yiddish translation of Josippon with a general history of the Jews in the diaspora until 1740.^{[1] [2] [3]} He also drew on the history of Jacques Basnage.^[4] and Israel Zinberg considered it the foremost representative of its genre.^[5] It was cited by Abraham Trebitsch with his Qorot ha-'Ittim and Abraham Chaim Braatbard with his Ayn Naye Kornayk.^[6] Zinberg called it "the most important work of Old Yiddish historiographical literature".^[7]

Further reading

• Menaḥem Man Amelander, “Sheyris Yisroel (Remnant of Israel)” (manuscript, Amsterdam, 1743; first printing 1744). Republished as: Keter kehunah ve-hu sefer Yosipon bi-leshon Ashkenaz, ed. Menahem ben Solomon Amelander, vol. 2 (Fürth: Be-vet uvi-defus Ḥayim ben Tsevi Hirsh, 1767), pp. 92a–96b (ch. 34). The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography

• Goudsmit's edition of Sheyrit Yisrael;
• Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl, No. 6365;
• Fürst, Bibl. Jud. ii. 320;
• Rabbinovicz, Katalog, No. 12 (No. 917);
• Roest, Cat. der Rosenthal'schen Bibl. i. 63, 64;
• Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books, Brit. Mus. p. 531;
• Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, pp. 218, 562.

Notes and References

1. Wallet . Bart . 2012 . Universiteit van Amsterdam. Links in a Chain: Early Modern Yiddish Historiography in the Northern Netherlands (1743-1812) . en.
2. Web site: menahem man ben salomo halevi und sein jiddisches geschichtswerk "sche'erit jisrael" . 2023-11-06 . De Gruyter . de.
3. Fuks-Mansfeld . R.G. . 1981 . Yiddish Historiography in the Time of the Dutch Republic . Studia Rosenthaliana . 15 . 1 . 9–19 . 41481882 . 0039-3347.
4. 2019 . Hidden Polemic: Josephus's Work in the Historical Writings of Jacques Basnage and Menaḥem Amelander . Josephus in Modern Jewish Culture . 42.
5. Smith . Mark L. . December 2021 . Two Views of Yiddish Culture in the Netherlands . Studia Rosenthaliana . 47 . 2 . 117–138 . 10.5117/SR2021.2.002.SMIT. 1 November 2024 .
6. Wallet . Bart . 2007 . Ongoing History: The Successor Tradition in Early Modern Jewish Historiography . Studia Rosenthaliana . 40 . 183–194 . 10.2143/SR.40.0.2028843 . 41482510 . 0039-3347.
7. Book: Zinberg, Israel . Old Yiddish Literature from Its Origins to the Haskalah Period . 1975 . KTAV Publishing House, Inc. . 978-0-87068-465-4 . en.