Daniel Bomberg

Daniel Bomberg (d. circa 1549) was one of the most important printers of Hebrew books. A Christian who employed rabbis, scholars and apostates in his Venice publishing house, Bomberg printed the first Mikraot Gdolot (Rabbinic Bible) and the first complete Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. These editions set standards that are still in use today, in particular the pagination of the Babylonian Talmud and universal layout of the commentaries of Rashi and Tosfot. His publishing house printed about 200 Hebrew books, including siddurim (prayer books), responsa, codes of law, works of philosophy and ethics, commentaries, and more. He was the first Hebrew printer in Venice and the first non-Jewish printer of Hebrew books.

Bomberg was born around 1483 in Antwerp, Brabant. His father, Cornelius van Bombergen, was a merchant, who sent his son to Venice to help with the family business. There Daniel met Felix Pratensis (Felice da Prato), an Augustinian friar who had converted from Judaism, and who is said to be the one who encouraged Bomberg to print Hebrew books. Bomberg established an initially successful printing press in Venice, in which he supposedly invested over 4,000,000 ducats. Other sources, likely equally exaggerated, claim that he lost at least as much. He returned to Antwerp in 1539, though his press continued to operate until 1548, and it seems he retained some level of involvement throughout. Very little is known about his death some time between 1549 and 1553.

Bomberg began his printing career in 1517 with the first edition of Mikraot Gdolot (Rabbinic Bible). The four volume set included the Hebrew Pentateuch with accompanying commentaries (many of which had never previously been printed), an Aramaic translation, the haftarot and the five megillot. It was printed with the approval of Pope Leo X and the editing was overseen by the Jewish convert to Christianity Felix Pratensis.

The first edition generated harsh criticism by Jewish audiences, possibly because of its numerous errors, albeit mostly minor issues in the cantillation and pronunciation marks, and possibly because of the involvement of the apostate Pratensis. In a second edition edited by Yaakov b. Hayim Adonijah hundreds of such errors were fixed, and though it still generated criticism, it nonetheless served as the standard upon which future printings of Mikraot Gdolot were based.

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