LITERARY CRITICISM:FREE NOTES

Wise, Isaac Mayer (1819–1900). The father of American Reform Judaism. He arrived from Germany in 1846 and went on to found the Union of ...

Tzvi, Shabbatai (1626–1676). A charismatic leader who proclaimed himself messiah in 1665. Although there were other false messiahs in Jewi...

Soloveitchik, Joseph Dov (1903–1993). Born in Lithuania into the Brisk Rabbinic dynasty. A child prodigy, Soloveitchik went to Germany to ...

Sofer, Moses (1762–1839). Also known as the Hatam Sofer. He served a community in Hungary and was the most important traditional Jewish sc...

Schneersohn, Menachem Mendel (1904–1994). The latest messianic figure in Judaism. Rebbe Schneersohn lead the Lubavitch movement (HaBaD) ...

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman (b. 1924). Born in Poland, educated in Vienna, and escaped the Nazis in 1941 by immigrating to the United States...

RaSHI, Rabbi Shlomo son of Isaac (1040–1105). Born in Troyes, France, and is most well known for his running commentary on the Talmud an...

Nachmanides, Moses (1194–1270). Also known as RaMBaN (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman); lived in Gerona, Spain, north of Barcelona, and died in th...

Maimonides, Moses (1138–1204). Also known as RaMBaM (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon); born in Spain and lived in Egypt. Maimonides was a doctor to...

  Luria, Isaac (1534–1572). Also known as the Holy Lion. He led a group of Kabbalists in Tzfat in the north of the Land of Israel. Luria d...

Leibowitz, Yeshayahu (1903–1994). One of the most controversial figures in Israel until his death. Although deeply committed to halachah, ...

  Kook, Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen (1865–1935). The first Ashkenazi chief Rabbi of Palestine. Born to a Hassidic mother and a Mitnagdic fa...

Kaplan, Mordecai (1881–1983). Taught at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary for more than half a century. Kaplan is also the foun...

Judah the Prince, Rabbi (c. 135 C.E.–c. 219). Redacted the Mishnah, the first literary work of Rabbinic Judaism. He was both an outstandi...

Hirsch, Samson Raphael (1808–1888). Considered to be the father of Modern (or Neo-) Orthodoxy. He was a staunch opponent of Reform and its...

Hirsch, Emil G. (1851–1923). The son of a prominent Reform ideologue, Rabbi Samuel Hirsch. Upon returning from Germany with ordination and...

Heschel, Abraham Joshua (1905–1972). A scion of a Hassidic dynasty and one of the leading Jewish theologians in the United States in the 2...

Herzl, Theodor (1860–1904). Best remembered as the father of political Zionism. He was an assimilated Jew from Budapest who was educated i...

Geiger, Abraham (1810–1874). A founding father of the Reform movement in Germany. Geiger was also one of the outstanding scholars from t...

Frankel, Zecharias (1801–1875). The founder of Conservative Judaism in Germany. At the time, it was called “Positive Historical Judaism.” ...