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Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, (13 August 1599 – 16 August 1664) was the son of the scholarJohannes Buxtorf, and a ProtestantChristian Hebraist.
Buxtorf was born inBasel, where he also died. Before the age of thirteen hematriculated at theUniversity of Basel, and in December 1615 graduated asMaster of Arts there. He went toHeidelberg, where he continued his studies underDavid Pareus,Abraham Scultetus,Johann Heinrich Alting, and others.
In 1618 he attended thesynod of Dort, where he formed friendships withSimon Episcopius,Ludwig Crocius, and others. He succeeded his late father in the chair of Hebrew at the university; he gained an almost equal reputation, in the same domain, and was considered a chip off the old block. Although he received offers fromGroningen,Leyden, and other places, he preferred to retain his position at Basel. He was four times married, and in his later years experienced many sorrows.
Like his father, Buxtorf maintained relations with several learned Jews. He employedAbraham Braunschweig to purchase Hebrew books for him; and for many years he corresponded with the scholarlyJacob Roman of Constantinople regarding the acquisition of Hebrew manuscripts and rare printed works. Buxtorf was also engaged in the sale of Hebrew books; among his purchasers being the commercial representative ofCardinal Richelieu,Stella de Tery et Morimont, who occasionally sojourned at Basel, andJohann Heinrich Hottinger at Zurich, with whom Buxtorf was on terms of close friendship. He also frequently furnished Hebrew books to the Zurich library.
Buxtorf corresponded not only with Jacob Roman andLeon Siau of Constantinople (the latter of whom afterward embraced Christianity and became physician-in-ordinary to a Transylvanian prince), but with the teacherSolomon Gai, and with the friend of the latter,Florio Porto of Mantua, both of whom were commissioned by Buxtorf to purchase Hebrew books in Italy; with the learned rabbiMenahem Zion Porto Cohen ofPadua, whom Buxtorf did not treat in a very friendly manner; withManasseh b. Israel;David Cohen de Lara of Hamburg;Jacob Abendana of Amsterdam, for whose "Miklol Yofi" he wrote an approbation;Isaac Abendana, brother of the foregoing;Joseph Delmedigo, with whom he was personally acquainted; and many others.
Buxtorf prepared new editions of several of his father's works [especially the "Tiberias"]; and, as in the case of the "Concordance" and the "Talmudic-Rabbinical Lexicon," completed and prepared for publication those that had been left unfinished.
Nineteen years after the death of his father he became involved in a controversy withLouis Cappel regarding the antiquity of theHebrew vowel-signs; and although the question was one purely historical, it nevertheless contained a substratum of dogma, and in a number of polemical writings was conducted with great intensity and bitterness on both sides.
The following original works of Buxtorf were published:
Especially noteworthy also are Buxtorf's Latin translations of the "Moreh Nevuchim" ofMaimonides: "Doctor Perplexorum" (Basel, 1629), and the "Kuzari" ofJudah ha-Levi: "Liber Cosri" (Basel, 1660). Buxtorf also wrote a long series of dissertations on the writings ofAbravanel, among which may be mentioned "De Sive de Excitii Poena," "De Longa Vita Primorum Parentum," "De Statu et Jure Regio," "De Mosis Nomine." All these first appeared singly, and then either as "Dissertaciones Philologo-Theologicæ" (Basel, 1662), or inUgolino's "Thesaurus" (xxv.); while several others, such as "De Lepra Vestimentorum et Ædium," "De Poesi Veteri Hebraica in Libris Sacris Usitata," "De Principio Anni," etc., were appended to the translation of the "Cuzari."
Rich biographical material on Buxtorf the Younger may be found in his unpublished correspondence, and also in that addressed by him to Hottinger (which is preserved in the public libraries at Basel and Zurich).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Buxtorf, Johannes".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.