The German-or-Yiddish Controversy within the Haskalah and the European “Dialogue of the Dead”: Tuvyah Feder's Kol Meḥazezim versus Mendel Lefin's Translation of the Book of Proverbs
Abstract
Following the practice of Moses Mendelssohn, most thinkers of the German-Jewish Enlightenment translated Hebrew texts into German. Mendel Lefin translated the Book of Proverbs into Yiddish, sparking a stern response from Tuvyah Feder, who used a dialogue of the dead, one of the most popular literary genres in Europe. Feder's satirical response urged contemporary thinkers to retain their debt to the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) to maintain the continuity. In doing so, Feder revealed his debt to European and Hebrew sources.
Publication Date
1-1-2004
Number of Pages
227-251
Document Type
Paper
Language
English
Volume
49
Issue
1
Publication Title
Leo Baeck Institute Year Book
First Page
227
Last Page
251
ISSN
0075-8744
STARS Citation
Pelli, M, "The German-or-Yiddish Controversy within the Haskalah and the European “Dialogue of the Dead”: Tuvyah Feder's Kol Meḥazezim versus Mendel Lefin's Translation of the Book of Proverbs" (2004). Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 77.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ucfscholar/77