Folia Theologica 9. (1998)
György Benyik: Hungarian Bible Translation
232 GY. BENYIK they began to lose their mother tongue which created a need for bilingual and Hungarian religious literature and a Bible translation in Hungarian, suitable for Jews. This process reached its peak with the establishment of the Rabbinical Training-College and the Israelite Hungarian Literary Society. The following is a short description of Jewish translators and their works. MÓRIC ROSENTHAL (1833-1889), a rabbi and teacher at the School of Commerce in Pest. He translated several Talmudic books from Hebrew, among them The Book of Psalms.75 It is to be regretted that these translations exercised no influence on Christian translations. Still, with this the translating activities of emancipated Jews had their beginnings, culminating in the „family and school translations” of the Israelite Hungarian Literary Society. SÁMUEL KOHN (1841-1920) finished Judaistic studies at the University of Breslau. He established the Rabbinical Training-College and was president of the Israelite Hungarian Literary Society.76 He translated Genesis into Hungarian (Pest 868). IGNÁC ZIEGLER (1861-1948) Chief Rabbi of Karlsbad.77 His translation of Genesis was published in Budapest (1887). KAIM POLLÁK (1834-1905) Hebraist who studied in Sátoraljaújhely and in Prague. His best known work is his dictionary,78 but he also translated The Book of Esther from Hebrew and published it in Budapest (1887) . HENRIK DEUTSCH (1822-1889) studied the Talmud in many jeshibas. He worked as a rabbi in several places before he became the director of the Rabbinical Training-College. He supported the idea of emancipation and wrote many pedagogical works.79 He traslated the Pentateuch and published it in both Hebrew and Hungarian in Budapest (1888) . _________ 75 Pirke Aboth... Buda, 1841.; Dávid király énekei. Pozsony, 1841.; Elbeszélés az Izrael népének Egyiptomból való kimeneteléről. A húsvét két estvéi számára. Pozsony, 1844. 76 GROSZMANN, Zsigmond. Kohn Sámuel életrajza in Magyar Zsidó Szemle Budapest, 1920. Number 1-5 Kohn’s main works: Zsidók története Vol. I. Budapest, 1884.; Szombatosok története. Budapest, 1889., 1894. 77 Malakiás próféta. Buda, 1888.; Geschichte des Judentums. 1900. etc. 78 Héber-magyar teljes szótár. Budapest, 1880. and translation of other Hebrew works. 79 Héber grammatika. 1859.; Kis szótár. 1887.; Mózes öt könyve masszoretikus szöveggel. 1887-1889.
