Michael Friedländer | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Michael Friedländer. | |
| Born | (1833-04-29)29 April 1833 |
| Died | 10 December 1910(1910-12-10) (aged 77) |
Michael Friedländer (29 April 1833 – 10 December 1910) was anOrientalist and principal ofJews' College,London. He is best known for hisEnglish translation ofMaimonides'Guide to the Perplexed, which was the most popular such translation until the more recent work ofShlomo Pines, and still remains in print.
Friedländer was born atJutroschin, in theGrand Duchy of Posen. His early secular education was at a localCatholic school, and his Jewish education came from attendance of aCheder, and from his father, who was atalmudist andHebrew grammarian. He then attended thegymnasium, while continuing his Jewish studies under RabbiJacob Joseph Oettinger and RabbiElchanan Rosenstein.
In 1856, he began studies in classical languages and mathematics at the universities ofBerlin andHalle/Saale (Ph.D. 1862), and concurrently with the university studies he pursuedTalmudic learning. Settling in Berlin, he was appointed principal of the Talmud school, a position which he resigned in 1865 to accept that of the principal of Jews' College, London, in succession toBarnett Abrahams. There he taught theology, biblical and rabbinical exegesis, Talmud, Jewish history, mathematics, andArabic.
He retired from this position in 1907, and died on 10 December 1910. His son-in-law wasMoses Gaster (1856–1939), theHakham of theSpanish and Portuguese congregation,London, and aHebrewlinguist.
Friedländer displayed considerable literary activity. He authored a few dozen articles for theJewish Encyclopedia. As a member of theSociety of Hebrew Literature he published under its auspices:
He also edited aJewish Family Bible in English and Hebrew, compiled aHandbook of the Jewish Religion, made calculations on theHebrew calendar, and contributed articles to theJewish Quarterly Review, theDictionary of National Biography, and other publications. Numerous papers read by him at Jews' College and elsewhere have been published.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gottheil, Richard;Seligsohn, Max (1901–1906)."Friedländer, Michael". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. The JE cites the following works:
