Marcus Hyman Bresslau
Born1807 or 1808
Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia
Died(1864-05-14)14 May 1864
London

Marcus Hyman Bresslau[note 1] (1807/8 – 14 May 1864) was a Prussian-born English Hebraist, editor, author, and journalist.

Biography

He was born to Gutel and Ḥayyim Bresslau in Breslau, Germany, and moved to London as a youth.[1] He received a traditional Jewish education, and at some point became influenced by the ideas of the Haskalah. For a time he taught Hebrew at the Westminster Jews' Free School, and worked as baal keriah at the Western Synagogue, at which he occasionally delivered sermons.[2]

He then became connected with the Hebrew Review, which ran under the editorship of Morris J. Raphall from 1834 to 1836. He became editor of the Jewish Chronicle in October 1844, when the periodical was revived by Joseph Mitchell. As editor, he advocated for popular education, for a more effective system of Jewish communal poor relief, and for certain changes to Orthodox liturgy and ritual.[2] He resigned in October 1850 after disputes with Mitchell, but on the latter's suicide in June 1854, he re-assumed the editorship and became sole proprietor, though he sold it a few months afterward.[3][4] Some years later he tried to revive the Hebrew Review,[5] but failed, and he then retired from active work.[6]

Bresslau was the author of a Hebrew grammar and dictionary. From the German he translated devotional exercises for women, and copied various Hebrew manuscripts in the collection at Oxford. He helped to translate into English the two volumes of "Miscellanea" from the Bodleian, edited by Hirsch Edelmann. Bresslau also publicly criticised the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews, and wrote of the denial of Jews' rights in England.[7]

Bresslau declined numerous offers of employment within the Jewish community, and he lived his later years dependent on charity.[1] A public subscription and testimonial were presented him during this time, in recognition of a thirty-year literary activity.[6]

Partial bibliography

  • Devotions for the Daughters of Israel; A Collection of Concise Prayers for Jewish Females, for Week Day, Sabbath, New Moons, Festivals, and Fasts. London: I. Vallentine. 1852.
  • English and Hebrew Dictionary. London: John Weale. 1854.
  • A Compendious Hebrew Grammar. London: John Weale. 1855.
  • "The Sabbaths of the Lord"; Being Sabbath Meditations of the Pentateuch and Haphtorahs, Each Medidation Concluding with an Appropriate Prayer. London: s.n. 1858.

Notes

  1. ↑ Yiddish: מרדכי במ״ה חיים ברעסלוי; also known as Marcus Heinrich Bresslau, Marcus Heymann Bresslau, Mordechai Chaim Bresslau, etc.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; Lipkind, Goodman (1902). "Breslau, Marcus Heymann". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 371–372.

  1. 1 2 Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael A.; Rubinstein, Hillary L., eds. (2011). "Bresslau, Marcus Hyman (or Heyman)". The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-230-30466-6. OCLC 793104984.
  2. 1 2 Rubinstein, Hilary L. "Bresslau, Marcus Hyman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/59282. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ↑ Jewish Historical Studies: Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England. Vol. 31–32. London: Jewish Historical Society of England. 1990. p. 262.
  4. ↑ Picciotto, James (1875). Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History. London: Trübner & Co. p. 407.
  5. ↑ Bresslau, M. H. (21 October 1859). "Introduction". The Hebrew Review and Magazine for Jewish Literature. New Series. 1 (1): 1–2.
  6. 1 2  Jacobs, Joseph; Lipkind, Goodman (1902). "Breslau, Marcus Heymann". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 371–372.
  7. ↑ Reed, Barbara Straus (1995). "Pioneer Jewish Journalism". In Hutton, Frankie; Reed, Barbara Straus (eds.). Outsiders in 19th-Century Press History: Multicultural Perspectives. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-87972-688-1.
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