Weissberg, Isaac Jacob

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WEISSBERG, ISAAC JACOB

WEISSBERG, ISAAC JACOB (1840–1904), Hebrew writer and linguist. He was born in Polonka in Minsk district and contributed to various publications, including *Ha-Meliẓ, *Ha-Maggid, and *Ha-Asif. He opposed both modern Hebrew style, because of the linguistic innovations it contained, and the infiltration of European literary movements into Hebrew literature. His own style is biblical and florid.

He collected and published the letters of J.L. *Gordon (2 vols., 1894), the letters of I.B. *Levinsohn to Dr. R. Kalischer (1896), and the letters of Isaiah Tugendhold (Divrei Yeshayah ben Ya'akov Tugendhold, 1896). His works include Ga'on ve-Shivro (1883); She'elat ha-Nashim al pi ha-Talmud ("The Question of Women According to the Talmud," 1890); Dalet Tekufot le-Divrei ha-Yamim li-Venei Yisrael ("Four Periods in the History of the Children of Israel," 1898); and Mishlei Kadmonim, ("Ancient Proverbs," 1900).

bibliography:

Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 672–3; Lu'aḥ Aḥi'asaf, 9 (1902), 361–2; Ha-Mashkif (pseud. J. Klausner), in: Ha-Shilo'ah, 14 (1904), 193–4.

[Gedalyah Elkoshi]