EDELMANN, ẒEVI HIRSCH

EDELMANN, ẒEVI HIRSCH (1805–1858), Hebrew scholar, printer, and publisher. Edelmann, who was born in Svisloch, Belorussia, published books at Danzig, Koenigsberg, and London. In England, in particular, he carefully searched the libraries for Hebrew manuscript material. Edelmann published editions of hitherto unpublished medieval Hebrew literature such as Estori Ha-Parhi's Kaftor va-Ferah (1851, repr. 1959); Ginzei Oxford (translated into English by M.H. Bresslau and published in Treasures of Oxford, 1851), a collection (with L. Dukes) of liturgical and secular poetry by Spanish-Jewish poets; Derekh Tovim (also translated into English by M.H. Bresslau and published in Path of Good Men, 1852), varia by Maimonides, Judah ibn Tibbon and others; Ḥemdah Genuzah (1856), an important collection of philosophical writings and letters, mainly by, to, or about Maimonides; Divrei Ḥefeẓ (1853), another collection of philosophical and poetical material; and also M.Ḥ. Luzzatto's La-Yesharim Tehillah (1854). Edelmann also published a number of important liturgical items: Seder Haggadah (1845), with critical notes; Haggadah Le-Leil Shimmurim (1845), with commentaries and notes; and Siddur Hegyon Lev (1854) containing Edelmann's critical notes and emendations, No'am Megadim by J. Teomim, and Mekor Berakhah by E. Landshuth. Edelmann's first publications, which were purely talmudic, were Haggahotu-Vi'urim li-Me'irat Einayim (1839) and Alim le-Mivḥan, including Megillat Sefer Iggeret ha-Purim (1844) on Esther. He also wrote an historical study on Saul *Wahl, the alleged oneday king of Poland, Gedul lat Sha'ul (1854), with an appendix Nir David. His considerable publishing ventures were carried out under conditions of great financial stringency. Edelmann lived in Berlin from 1852 and died in the ward for the insane in a Berlin hospital.

bibliography:

Jewish Chronicle (1841–1941) (1949), 55; A. Berg, Birkat Avraham (1882); Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 24–25.