FLEISCHER, JUDAH LOEB

FLEISCHER, JUDAH LOEB (Leopold, Lipot ; 1886–1955), Hungarian scholar. Fleischer was born in Ersekujvar and founded a religious elementary school in Temesvar in 1918. He taught there and directed it until it was closed by the Communist regime in 1948. He wrote scholarly articles on Abraham Ibn Ezra, particularly the Bible commentaries, which appeared from 1912 onward in Ha-Ẓofeh le-Ḥokhmat Yisrael, Sinai, and other journals. Among his editions of Abraham Ibn Ezra are Sefer ha-Ta'amim (1951), Sefer ha-Me'orot (1933), Sefer ha-Olam (1937), and Ibn Ezra le-Sefer Shemot (1926). Some of his important works remain in manuscript.

His son Ezra fleischer (1928– ), Hebrew poet and scholar, was born in Temesvar (Timisoara), Transylvania. He was imprisoned after World War ii by the Romanian authorities as a result of his activities on behalf of Bnei Akiva. In 1960 he immigrated to Israel, studied at the Hebrew University, became a lecturer on medieval Hebrew literature at Bar-Ilan University, and then at the Hebrew University. His poem, "Massa Gog" ("The Burden of Gog"), written during his imprisonment and published in the Israeli literary journal Moznayim (Nisan–Iyyar, 1959) under the pseudonym Y. Goleh, caused a literary sensation and won him the Israel Prize for 1959. He published poetry (under various pseudonyms) in the Hebrew press from 1956 and also two volumes, Meshalim (1957) and Be-Hehalek Laylah (1961). Other important works include Ha-Yoẓrot be-Hithavutam ve-Hitpatḥutam (1984); a study of Hebrew poetry in the Middle Ages, Shirat ha-Kodesh ha-Ivrit bi-Yemei ha-Beinayim (1975); Tefilah u-Minhagei Tefillah Ereẓ Yisraeliyim bi-Tekufat ha-Genizah (1988).

bibliography:

Ben-Menahem, in: ks, 33 (1958), 227–32 (bibliography of Fleischer's works); Breuer, in: S.K. Mirsky (ed.), Ishimu-Demuyyot be-Hokhmat Yisrael (1959), 404–14; A. Cohen, Soferim Ivriyyim Benei Zemannenu (1964), 209–10; M. Kushnir (Shnir), Ha-Ne'imah ha-Ahat (1963), 228–30; ccar Journal, 11 (1963), 48–49 (excerpt from "Massa Gog"). add. bibliography: R. Cohen, Maẓa Matmonim: Bibliografyah shel Kitvei Ezra Fleischer (2001)

[Getzel Kressel]