Julius Eisenstein | |
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J.D. Eisenstein, Orthodox Jewish scholar
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Born |
Międzyrzec Podlaski, Congress Poland |
November 12, 1854
Died | May 17, 1956 New York City, New York |
(aged 101)
Resting place | Queens, New York City, New York |
Residence | Międzyrzec Podlaski (1854-1872), New York City (1872-1956) |
Nationality | Polish, American |
Other names | Judah David Eisenstein, the Ba'al ha-Otzrot |
Known for | Hebrew language anthologies, editor of the first Hebrew encyclopedia |
Spouse(s) | Rebecca Eisenstein (née Cohen) |
Children | Four sons, five daughters |
Parent(s) | Zeev Wolf Eisenstein and Toba Bluma Eisenstein (née Barg) |
Relatives | Ira Eisenstein, Harry Fishbein |
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Julius (Judah David) Eisenstein (November 12, 1854 – May 17, 1956) (Hebrew: יהודה דוד אייזנשטיין) was a Polish-Jewish-American anthologist, diarist, encyclopedist, Hebraist, historian, philanthropist, and Orthodox polemicist born in Międzyrzec Podlaski (known in Yiddish as Mezritch d'Lita), a town with a large Jewish majority in what was then Congress Poland. He died in New York City at the age of 101.
Yehuda Dovid Eizensztejn, as he was named at birth, was the second of two children born to Rabbi Zeev Wolf and Toba Bluma (née Barg). His sister, Henna, was a year-and-a-half older. When he was ten years old his father became the first Jew from Mezritch to emigrate to the United States.
As a child, therefore, his education in Talmud was left to his paternal grandfather, Azriel Zelig, the son of Noson Neta Eizensztejn, a Talmudic scholar and dyer of indigo originally from the village of Stawiska (in Yiddish, Stavisk). His antecedents had moved there from Königsberg, and claimed to be direct descendants of Rashi.
In 1872, Toba Bluma emigrated to the United States with her son and daughter and joined Zeev Wolf in New York. It was there that Yehuda Dovid anglicized his first name to Julius and adopted the American spelling of his family name. He married the following year.