Meir Friedmann

Meir (Ish Shalom) Friedmann (July 10, 1831, at Kraszna (Slovak: Kružná), district of Kashau (Košice Region), Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire – 1908, at Vienna, Austria-Hungary) was an Austrian-Hungarian Jewish scholar. His editions of the Midrash are the standard texts. His chief editions were the Sifre (1864), the Mekhilta (1870), Pesiqta Rabbathi (1880). At the time of his death he was editing the Sifra. Friedmann, while inspired with regard for tradition, dealt with the Rabbinic texts with modern scientific methods, and rendered conspicuous service to the critical investigation of the Midrash and to the history of early homilies.

In 1844, at the age of 13, he entered the yeshiva at Ungvar, Carpathian Ruthenia region (now part of Ukraine) where he was attracted to Chasidism and Kabbalah. At the age of sixteen, he was led by the "Bi'ur" of Moses Mendelssohn to the study of the Bible, and became deeply interested in Hebrew poetry, especially in Wessely's "Shire Tife'ret". At twenty, while living at Miskolc, where he earned his livelihood by giving Talmud instruction, he took up secular studies. In 1858 he entered the University of Vienna. In 1864, when the Vienna bet ha-midrash was founded, he was chosen as teacher of the Bible and Midrash. Later he was hired as a professor in the Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt. Among his students there was Solomon Schechter.

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