PAPPENHEIM, SOLOMON

PAPPENHEIM, SOLOMON (1740–1814), Hebrew linguist and poet. Born in Zuelz (Germany), Pappenheim served as a dayyan in Breslau until his death. He first became known as a linguist in his three-part Yeri'ot Shelomo (1784, 1811, and 1831), a study of synonyms. Although an ardent advocate of the Haskalah, Pappenheim opposed religious reforms and David *Friedlaender's proposal (1812) that education be entrusted to the government.

His contribution to modern Hebrew literature is his small book, Aggadat Arba Kosot ("Legend of Four Glasses"; Berlin, 1790 and often reprinted), a work influenced by family tragedies and by Night Thoughts by the English poet Edward Young. Pappenheim's book, which begins with sorrow and ends with exultation and faith, is written in poetic prose. The poet, on the one hand, writes in a classical, rationalist vein from the standpoint of the structure and spirit of the work, and he preaches and believes in reason and morality. On the other hand, he is influenced by the sentimentalism that had begun to affect contemporary literature, which cried out against fate and yearned for nature and night. Aggadat Arba Kosot is one of the foundations of Hebrew lyricism, and its influence may be seen in the poetry of A.D.B. (Adam ha-Kohen) *Lebensohn and his son, M.J. *Lebensohn.

bibliography:

H.A. Wolfson, in: Jewish Studies… Israel Abrahams (1927), 427–40; F. Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der juedischen Poesie (Leipzig, 1836), 110; Lachower, Sifrut, 1 (1963), 96–99; Klausner, Sifrut, 1 (1952), 254–60; H.G. Shapira, Toledot ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit ha-Ḥadashah (1939), 346–54; Zinberg, Sifrut, 5 (1959), 114–6; Zeitlin, Bibliotheca, index.

[Elieser Kagan]