Remarks on Avraham Firkowicz and the Hebrew Mejelis “Document”
Remarks on Avraham Firkowicz and the Hebrew Mejelis “Document”
Author(s): Dan D. Y. ShapiraSubject(s): Jewish studies, History of Judaism, 19th Century
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Derbent/Derbend/Darband Torah; Karaite; Crimea; Lost Tribes; Harviainen; Haskalah; history of Jewish Studies; Anglo-Israelism; Khazars; forgery; Mejelis/Mendzhelis/Madjalis/Majalis Document; Caucasia;
Summary/Abstract: In the early 1840s several forgeries of Hebrew epigraphic material have been produced; these forgeries are associated with the name of Avraham Firkowicz/Firkovich, a Russian Jewish book collector and an amateur archaeologist. His discoveries were supposed to provide a revolutionising effect on the nascent Wissenschaft des Judenthums (Jewish Studies). On the margin of a re-edition of the Mejelis Document by the Finnish scholar Tapani Harviainen, this article makes justice to Firkowicz, analysing the cultural context in which the forgeries were made, such as the Haskalah movement, Orientalism, Christian missionary activity and Lost Tribes hunting.
Journal: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
- Issue Year: 59/2006
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 131-180
- Page Count: 50
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF