Goldenthal, Jacob
GOLDENTHAL, JACOB
GOLDENTHAL, JACOB (1815–1868), Austrian Orientalist. Goldenthal was born in Brody and became principal of the Jewish school in Kishinev, Russia, in 1843; in 1846 he settled in Vienna and taught Oriental languages, rabbinics, and literature at the University of Vienna from 1848 until his death. Beside his regular teachings he offered a theological program for rabbinical candidates.
Goldenthal published several articles on medieval Jewish literature in Kokhevei Yiẓḥak (5, 1846; 24, 1858). He edited the following medieval texts: Abraham ibn Ḥasdai's Hebrew translation of al-Ghazālī's Arabic Mīzān al-ʿAmal, Sefer Moznei Ẓedek (1939); Averroes' commentary on Aristotle's Rhetoric, translated into Hebrew as Be'ur Ibn Rushd le-Sefer ha-Halaẓah le-Aristo (1842); Mesharet Moshe (1845), an exposition of Maimonides' teaching on the concept of providence; Nissim b. Jacob's Mafte'aḥ shel Manulei ha-Talmud (1847), dealing with Talmud methodology; Moses Rieti's poem Mikdash Me'at (1851), on ancient philosophy and the history of Jewish literature; and Moses Narboni's commentary on Maimonides' Guide, Be'ur le-Sefer Moreh Nevukhim (1852). Goldenthal tried to revive Jost and Creizenach's periodical Zion, but only one issue, Neue Zion (1845), appeared. His correspondence with S.D. *Luzzatto was published in Kokhevei Yiẓḥak. He also published the first Hebrew textbook for the study of Arabic, Sefer Maspik li-Ydi'at Dikduk Lashon Arvi (1857), and a textbook for the study of Turkish (1865); he compiled a catalog of forty Hebrew manuscripts at the National Library of Vienna (1851). Some of his works were published in the Denkschriften of the Vienna Academy of Sciences.
bibliography:
J. Fuenn, in: Knesset Yisrael, 1 (1866), 541–2; Gelber, in: Arim ve-Immahot be-Yisrael, 66 (1955), 204–5. add. bibliography: A. Bruell, in: adb, 9 (1879), 332; S. Mannheimer, in: je 6 (1904), 23.
[Samuel Miklos Stern /
Gregor Pelger (2nd ed.)]