Tuesday, June 23, 2015

An unrecorded scathing criticism of Louis Ginzberg from 1902

Well, I think it hasn't been called attention to before.

This appeared in the American Israelite on October 16, 1902. The author is the incredibly colorful figure Adolphe Danziger, who repeatedly calls Louis Ginzberg "Dovka" - although I had not previously known of this nickname, or that, or if, he perhaps had the name Dov in addition to Levi. There can be no doubt to whom he refers. (Maybe Danziger was simply giving him a typical eastern European nickname as a sort of slur designed to cut a Doktor down to size; maybe, but doubtfully, he means "דוקא"; so if anyone can clarify the name issue, please do so.) 

As you can see, in addition to the proverbial ham sandwich, he practically accuses Ginzberg of having converted to Christianity in the way he references what I assume must be the topic of his doctoral dissertation (Die Haggadah bei den Kirchenvätern). He does allow, however, that Ginzberg knows more than Schechter and all the professors at the JTS put together!




Here is the rest of the text, referring to material printed in the Jewish Exponent attacking Ginzberg (click to enlarge):

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