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Gershon ben Eliezer Yiddels

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Gershon ben Eliezer ha-Levi Yiddels of Prague (Hebrew: גרשון בן אליעזר הלוי יידלש מפראג, romanized: Gershon ben Eliʻezer ha-Levi Yidelsh mi-Prag; fl. 17th century)[note 1] was a possibly fictitious[1] Jewish travel writer.[2]

He was the author of the Yiddish travelogue Gelilot Erets Yisra’el ('Regions of the Land of Israel'), containing a fantastical account of his travels to the Holy Land around 1624,[3] by way of Salonica, Alexandria, Mecca, and Jiddah. In his account, he claims to have travelled to countries on the shores of the river Sambation and to the states of Prester John.[4] He recounts having encountered three-eyed beasts with five feet, headless living men, fire-breathing birds, and other strange beings.[5][6]

The work contains an approbation by Rabbi Joel Sarkes of Cracow, leading Adolf Asher [de] to suggest that Sarkes never actually read its more fantastical elements.[4]

The first edition, presumably published in Lublin in 1635, was publicly burned in Warsaw by order of the Jesuits.[6] Subsequent editions of the work were published in Fürth (1691), Amsterdam (1705), and Prague (1824). It was also printed alongside the Ma'aseh Buch in Amsterdam in 1723.[7] A Hebrew translation, titled ʼIggeret ha-kodesh ('Sacred Epistles'), went through multiple editions.

Notes

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  1. ^ Variants of his name include Edels, Jidls, Yidelsh, Yiddls, and Yidls.

References

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 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gottheil, Richard; Wiernik, Peter (1903). "Gershon ben Eliezer ha-Levi (Yiddels) of Prague". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 639.

  1. ^ Moseley, Marcus (2005). Being For Myself Alone: Origins of Jewish Autobiography. Stanford University Press. p. 179,182. ISBN 978-0-8047-6397-4.
  2. ^ Kaplan, Yosef, ed. (2023). The Early Modern Period, 1500–1750. The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization. Vol. 5. Yale University Press. pp. 171–173. ISBN 978-0-300-13551-0.
  3. ^ Kizilov, Mikhail (2013). "Between Europe and the Holy Land: East European Jews as Intermediaries between Europe and the Near East from the 16th through the 17th Centuries". In Fuess, Albrecht; Heyberger, Bernard (eds.). La frontière méditerranéenne du XVe au XVIIe siècle. Brepols. pp. 301–305.
  4. ^ a b Asher, A. (1841). The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. Vol. 2. London: A. Asher & Co. pp. 281–282.
  5. ^ Cooper, Alanna E. (April 2006). "Conceptualizing Diaspora: Tales of Jewish Travelers in Search of the Lost Tribes". AJS Review. 30 (1). Association for Jewish Studies: 97. doi:10.1017/S0364009406000043. JSTOR 4131639. S2CID 163028176.
  6. ^ a b Zinberg, Israel (1975). Old Yiddish Literature from Its Origins to the Haskalah Period. Translated by Martin, Bernard. Hebrew Union College Press. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-87068-465-4.
  7. ^ Zedner, Joseph (1867). Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in the Library of the British Museum. London. p. 506.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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