Stern, Mendel Emanuel

Stern, Mendel Emanuel, a Jewish writer, was born at Presburg, in Hungary, in 1811, where the celebrated Talmudist rabbi Moses Sopher exercised an enduring influence upon the pious disposition of the youth. At the age of twelve he was obliged to assist his father, then stricken with all the misfortunes of increasing blindness, in the duties of tuition at the Royal Jewish Normal School of his native place; and when fourteen years old he replaced his blind father in the arduous post of teacher. In 1833 he was employed as reader in the famous Oriental printing establishment of A. von Schmidt. He then tried his fortune as teacher in some country places, and in 1838 settled at Vienna, where henceforth he occupied himself exclusively with literary pursuits, and where he died, March 9, 1873. Of his numerous works we mention the following עֵבֶר מִסלוּל לשׁוֹן, a Hebrew grammar (Vienna and Presburg, 1829, and often since): — A metrical German translation of the book of Proverbs (Presburg, 1832): — A German translation of the same book, with a Hebrew commentary (ibid. 1833): — The Ethics of the Fathers, פַרקֵי אָבוֹת (Vienna, 1840), in German metrical and rhymed lines: — Liturgical Hymns on the Divine Unity, שַׁירֵי הִיּחוּד (ibid. 1840), also in German metrical and rhymed lines: — The Prophet Ezekiel, with a German translation and a Hebrew commentary (ibid. 1842): — The Ethical Meditations of Bedarshi, סֵ8 בּחַינִת עוֹלָם, with a German translation (ibid. 1847): — תּוֹלדוֹת ישֹדָאֵל, or history of the Jews since their return from the Babylonian captivity to the destruction of Jerusalem by the- Romans (ibid. 1843), Hebrew and German: — A German translation of the book Jesus Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus (ibid. 1844): — סלַיחוֹת, or penitential hymns, with a German translation (ibid. 1842): — מֲִחזוֹר, or festival prayers, with a German translation (ibid. 1844,5 vols.). In 1845 he started a Hebrew periodical entitled כּוֹבֵי יַצחָק, The Star of Isaac, full of interesting matter, of which twenty-six parts were published (ibid. 1845- 61):חוֹבוֹת הִלַּבָבוֹת, The Duties of the Heart of Bechai, with a German translation (ibid. 1856, 2d ed.): — הִמַּלַּין אוֹצָר, a Talmudical lexicon (ibid. 1863). See Fürst, Bibl. Jud. 3, 386-388; Steinschneider, Bibliographisches Handbuch, p. 137. (B.P.)