JUEDISCH-LITERARISCHE GESELLSCHAFT

JUEDISCH-LITERARISCHE GESELLSCHAFT , society for the advancement of the scientific study of Judaism, founded in Frankfurt on the Main by Orthodox Jews in 1902, the same year as the founding of the liberal Berlin *Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaft des Judentums. Its founding members were the rabbis Solomon Bamberger, Jonas Bondi, Isaac *Halevy, Heymann Kottek, and Moses Marx, and educator Gerson Lange. This society endeavored to show that properly oriented Jewish scholarship need not be in conflict with the tenets of traditional Judaism. Thus, it rejected such "unproven hypotheses" as the documentary theory of biblical criticism while concentrating on post-biblical studies. In pursuit of its aims it published an annual titled Jahrbuch derjuedisch-literarischen Gesellschaft (1903–32), of which 22 volumes appeared (until 1929 edited by Jonas Bondi). It contained articles on diverse aspects of Jewish history and thought, book reviews, and a few contributions in Hebrew. In addition to the yearbook, the society published a number of scholarly and popular works, of which the following may be mentioned: I. Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim (6 vols., 1897–1939); H. Kottek, Geschichte der Juden (1915); and B. Lewin's critical edition of Iggeret Rav Sherira Ga'on (1921). It also granted subventions toward the publication of other scholarly volumes. The founding members of the society were among the most active in its scholarly ventures.

[Michael A. Meyer]