Gideon Brecher
Born(1797-01-12)12 January 1797
Prossnitz, Moravia, Habsburg Empire
Died14 May 1873(1873-05-14) (aged 76)
Prossnitz, Moravia, Austria-Hungary
Alma materUniversity of Erlangen
SpouseJosephine Zadek[1]
RelativesMoritz Steinschneider (nephew)

Gideon Brecher (Hebrew: גדעון ברכר; 12 January 1797 – 14 May 1873), also known by the pen name Gedaliah ben Eliezer (Hebrew: גדליה בן אליעזר, was an Austrian writer and physician. He was a central figure in the Moravian Haskalah.[1]

Biography

Brecher was born in Prossnitz, Moravia, and attended yeshivot in Eibenschütz and Nikolsburg.[1] He was the first Jew of Prossnitz to study medicine or any other professional field. Brecher received a graduate degree in surgery and obstetrics at the University of Pest in 1824, and obtained a doctorate in medicine at the University of Erlangen in 1849, with the thesis Das Transcendentale, Magie und Magische Heilarten im Talmud (Vienna, 1850).

Brecher's fame in Jewish literature rests principally on this work and upon his lucid commentary on the Kuzari of Judah ha-Levi, which appeared with the text in four parts (Prague, 1838–1840). His correspondence with Samuel David Luzzato about this commentary was also published.[2]

In addition to many contributions to scientific and literary periodicals and collections, and some important "Gutachten" (expert opinions) on social and religious questions submitted to him by imperial and local government officials, Brecher is the author of a monograph on circumcision, Die Beschneidung der Israeliten (Vienna, 1845),[3] with an introduction by Hirsch Fassel, and an appendix on Circumcision Among the Semitic Nations, by Moritz Steinschneider. Brecher also wrote Die Unsterblichkeitslehre des Israelitischen Volkes (Vienna, 1857), of which a French translation appeared in the same year by Isidore Cahen [fr]; and Concordantiæ nominum propriorum, a concordance of Biblical proper names, part of which was revised and published after his death by his son Adolph Brecher.

Partial bibliography

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; Wiernik, Peter (1902). "Brecher, Gideon (Gedaliah b. Eliezer)". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 368.

  1. ^ a b c Miller, Michael L. (2012). "'Your Loving Uncle': Gideon Brecher, Moritz Steinschneider and the Moravian Haskalah". In Leicht, Reimund; Freudenthal, Gad (eds.). Studies on Steinschneider: Moritz Steinschneider and the Emergence of the Science of Judaism in Nineteenth-Century Germany. Studies in Jewish History and Culture. Vol. 33. pp. 37–80. doi:10.1163/9789004226456_003. ISBN 978-90-04-22645-6.
  2. ^ Chamiel, Ephraim (2018). The Dual Truth: Studies on Nineteenth-Century Modern Religious Thought and Its Influence on Twentieth-Century Jewish Philosophy. Translated by Kallenbach, Avi. Academic Studies Press. ISBN 978-1-64469-102-1.
  3. ^ Glick, Leonard B. (2005). Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-517674-2.
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