Moses Gaster was a
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n-born Jewish-
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
scholar, the
HakhamHakham is a term from Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. The word is generally used to designate a cultured and learned person: "He who says a wise thing is called a wise man ["hakham"], even if he be not a Jew"...
of the
Spanish and Portuguese congregationSpanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and a
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
linguistLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
. He was also the son-in-law of
Michael FriedländerMichael Friedländer was an Orientalist and principal of Jews' College, London. He is best known for his English translation of Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed, which was the most popular such translation until the more recent work of Shlomo Pines, and still remains in print.Friedländer was...
, principal of
Jews' College-Origins and Remit Today:Jews' College, now known as the London School of Jewish Studies , was opened in Finsbury Square, London as a rabbinical seminary in 1855 with the support of Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler and of Sir Moses Montefiore, who had conceived the idea for such a venture as early as...
. The surname
GasterThe gaster is the bulbous posterior portion of the metasoma found in Apocrita Hymenoptera . This begins with abdominal segment III on most ants, but some make a postpetiole out of segment III, in which case the gaster begins with abdominal segment IV....
is taken from
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
CastroCastro is a Romance surname coming from Latin castrum, a fortification...
, indicating his Sephardic origin. He was the father of
Theodor GasterTheodor Herzl Gaster was a British-born American Biblical scholar known for work on comparative religion, mythology and the history of religions...
.
Early life
Born in
BucharestBucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, after having taken a degree in his native city (1874), he proceeded to
LeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, where he received the degree of
Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1878 and then to the
Jewish SeminaryDas Jüdisch-Theologische Seminar , The Jewish Theological Seminary of BreslauInstitution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonas Fränckel, and opened in 1854...
in Breslau, where he gained the
Hattarat Hora'ah in 1881. His history of
Romanian popular literatureRomanian literature is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.Eugène Ionesco is one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
was published in Bucharest in 1883.
He was lecturer on the
Romanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and literature at the
University of BucharestThe University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
(1881-85), inspector-general of schools, and a member of the council for examining teachers in Romania. He also lectured on the Romanian
apocryphaThe term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
, the whole of which he had discovered in manuscript.
Life in England
Having been expelled from Romania by the
Ion BrătianuIon C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...
government in 1885 for allegedly "being a member of an
irredentistIrredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. Some of these movements are also called pan-nationalist movements. It is a feature of identity politics and cultural...
society", he went to England, where he held a lectureship, 1886 and 1891, in Slavonic literature at the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, his lectures being later published as
Greco-Slavonic Literature, London, 1886.
He had not been in England many years before the Romanian government cancelled the decree of expulsion, presented him with the Romanian
Ordinul Naţional "Pentru Merit" of the first class (1891), and invited him to return; however, he declined the invitation, and in 1893 became a naturalized British citizen. In 1895, at the request of the Romanian government, he wrote a report on the British system of education, which was printed as a "green book" and accepted as a basis of
education in RomaniaAccording to the Law on Education adopted in 1995, the Romanian Educational System is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research . Each level has its own form of organization and is subject to different legislation. Kindergarten is optional between 3 and 6 years old...
.
In 1887 Gaster was appointed
hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in London, in which capacity he presided over the bicentenary of
Bevis Marks Synagogue----Bevis Marks Synagogue is located off Bevis Marks, in the City of London. The synagogue, affiliated to London's historic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community, is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom still in use...
. He was also principal of Judith Lady Montefiore College,
RamsgateRamsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
, from 1891 to 1896, and wrote valuable essays accompanying the yearly reports of that institution. He was a member of the councils of the Folklore, Biblical, Archaeological, and
Royal AsiaticThe Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...
societies, and wrote many papers in the interest of these bodies.
Gaster made a special study of the Samaritans and became a recognized authority on their language and literature. He visited
NablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, the headquarters of the Samaritan community, and induced them to part with manuscripts covering the whole range of their literature. Where he could not secure the originals he had copies made for him by Samaritan priests.
Gaster was among the most active leaders of the Zionist movement in England, and even while in Romania he assisted in establishing the first Jewish colony in
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. He was vice-president of the
First Zionist CongressThe First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization held in Basel , Switzerland, from August 29 to August 31, 1897. It was convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement...
in
BaselBasel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, and was a prominent figure in each succeeding congress.
Collector of manuscripts
He was a great collector of manuscripts, having over two thousand, mainly Hebrew, Samaritan and Slavonic. At the outbreak of the second World War his collection was moved for safekeeping to cellars in the centre of London. However, water used to quench London fires saturated a large part of the collection, which made some of them illegible in whole or in part. Fortunately many of them had previously been transliterated into Hebrew typescript.
The collection comprised over 10,000 fragments in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic from the
GenizahA genizah is the store-room or depository in a Jewish synagogue , usually specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics that were stored there before they could receive a proper cemetery burial, it being forbidden to throw away writings...
of the
Ben Ezra SynagogueThe Ben Ezra Synagogue , sometimes referred to as the El-Geniza Synagogue or the Synagogue of the Palestinians, is situated in Old Cairo, Egypt. According to local tradition, it is located on the site where baby Moses was found...
in Old
CairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
; some 350 Hebrew codices and scrolls including prayer-books of many Jewish communities, apocryphal writings, commentaries, treatises, letters, marriage contracts, piyyutim, and thirteen scrolls of the Law; some 350 Samaritan manuscripts, among them manuscripts of the Pentateuch, commentaries and treatises, and
liturgicalJewish liturgy refers specifically to following the Torah in all of its rites and ceremonies, whether in the home or in the Synagogue. The main purposes of following the carefully laid out observances is to maintain uniformity, and to avoid improper and unacceptable practices at variance with those...
, historical, chronological and astronomical codices, detailed census lists of the Samaritans and lists of manuscripts in their possession; and almost 1,500 uncatalogued
ArabicArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
fragments on paper from the Synagogue of Ben Ezra.
In 1954 the collection was purchased by the
John Rylands LibraryThe John Rylands Library is a Victorian Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Mrs Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her late husband, John Rylands...
of the
University of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, where it remains. The Rylands Cairo Genizah Project has been in progress for a number of years on the identification of fragments and digitization of images of the texts.
Literary works
Gaster's major work, in which he invested ten years of his life, was a Romanian
chrestomathyChrestomathy is a collection of choice literary passages, used especially as an aid in learning a foreign language.In philology or in the study of literature, it is a type of reader or anthology which presents a sequence of example texts, selected to demonstrate the development of language or...
and
glossaryA glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms...
covering the period from the dawn of Romanian literature down to 1830. Gaster also wrote various text-books for the
Jewish community of RomaniaThe history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
, made a Romanian translation of the
SiddurA siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
, and compiled a short
ScriptureThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
history.
A list of major works follows:
- Literatura populară română (1883)
- Jewish Folk-Lore
Folk-Lore was released in 2002 by Celtic metal band Cruachan.-Track listing:#"Bloody Sunday" – 4:15#"The Victory Reel" – 1:21#"Death of a Gael" – 5:38#"The Rocky Road to Dublin" – 3:07#"Ossian's Return" – 4:44...
in the Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
(1887);
- Ilchester Lectures on Greeko-Slavonic literature (1887);
- Chrestomatie Română (2 volumes, 1891)
- The Sword of Moses
The Sword of Moses is the title of a apocryphal Hebrew book of magic edited by Moses Gaster in 1896 from a 13th or 14th century manuscript from his own collection, formerly MS Gaster 78, now London, British Library MS Or. 10678...
from an ancient manuscript book of magicMagic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, with introduction, translation, and index (1896);
- The Chronicles of Jerahmeel
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel is a voluminous work that draws largely on Pseudo-Philo's earlier history of Biblical events and is of special interest because it includes Hebrew and Aramaic versions of certain deuterocanonical books in the Septuagint....
(1899) copy at Google Books;
- Hebrew Illuminated Bibles of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries and a Samaritan Scroll of the Pentateuch (1901);
- History of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, a memorial volume in celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of its inauguration (1901).
- edited The Book of Prayer and Order of Service according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (6 volumes, 1901-1907);
- The Hebrew Version of the Secretum Secretorum (1907-1908);
- Das Buch Josua (1908), on the Samaritan Book of Joshua;
- Rumanian Bird and Beast Stories (1915);
- Children's Stories from Roumanian Legends and Fairy Tales [1923];
- The Exempla of the Rabbis (1924);
- Studies and Texts in Folklore, Magic, Medieval Romance, Hebrew Apocrypha and Samaritan Archaeology, 3 Vols. (1925-8)
- The Samaritans: Their History, Doctrines and Literature. (The Schweich Lectures for 1923) (1925);
- The Asatir: The Samaritan Book of the “Secrets of Moses” (1927);
- The Story of Chanucah (1928);
- The Tittled Bible: a Model Codex of the Pentateuch Reproduced in Facsimile from MS. No. 85 of the Gaster Collection (1929);
- Die 613 Gebote und Verbote der Samaritaner, in "Festschrift zum Bestehen des jüd.-theol. Seminars Breslau", (1929);
- The Story of Passover (1929);
- The Story of Purim (1929);
- The Story of Shavuoth (1930);
- The Story of the High Festivals and the Feast of Tabernacles (1931);
- Conjurations and the Ancient Mysteries (1932);
- Samaritan Oral Law and Ancient Traditions, Vol. I, Eschatology (1932);
- Ma'aseh Book - Book of Jewish Tales and Legends Translated from the Judeo-German (1934).
- Contributions to periodical literature:
- "Beiträge zur Vergleichenden Sagen und Märchenkunde", in Monatsschrift, xxix. 35 et seq.;
- "Ein Targum der Amidah," in ib. xxxix. 79 et seq.;
- "The Legend of the Grail." Folk-Lore
Folk-Lore was released in 2002 by Celtic metal band Cruachan.-Track listing:#"Bloody Sunday" – 4:15#"The Victory Reel" – 1:21#"Death of a Gael" – 5:38#"The Rocky Road to Dublin" – 3:07#"Ossian's Return" – 4:44...
. Vol. 2. 1891
- "The Apocalypse of Abraham from the Roman Text", in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, ix. 195;
- "The Unknown Hebrew Versions of the Tobit Legend," in ib. 1897, p. 27;
- "The Oldest Version of Midrash Meghillah", in Kohut Memorial Volume;
- "Hebrew Text of One of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs", in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, xvi. 33 et seq.;
- "Contributions to the History of Aḥiḳar and Nadam", in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1900, p. 301.
External links