Daniel Neufeld

Daniel Neufeld
Born	1814 Praszka, Kalisz Governorate, Kingdom of Poland
Died	October 15, 1874(1874-10-15) (aged 59–60) Warsaw, Warsaw Governorate, Kingdom of Poland
Resting place	Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery (r. 41, n. 3)[1]
Language	Polish and Hebrew
Children	Bronisława Neufeld [pl]
Signature

Daniel Neufeld (1814 – 15 October 1874) was a Polish-born Jewish author, poet, and educator.

Biography

Daniel Neufeld was born to a Jewish family in Praszka, where he received a traditional cheder education. At the age of 13 he enrolled in a provincial grammar school run by the Piarist Fathers in Wieluń, but did not graduate, possibly because of his involvement in the November Uprising.[2] Neufeld opened a Jewish boys' school in 1838, with a curriculum that included the exact sciences, foreign language, and principles of progressive Judaism.[3] Neufeld moved to Chenstokhov in 1840, establishing there a private boarding school for Jewish boys.[4]

Neufeld settled in Warsaw in 1861, where worked as an editor of Samuel Orgelbrand's Encyklopedia powszechna (until 1868) and as a teacher in Jewish government schools.[3][4] There he published a work on the Great Sanhedrin of 1806 under the title Wielki Sanhedryn Paryski w Roku 1806. On 5 July 1861, Neufeld commenced the publication in Polish of a Jewish weekly newspaper entitled Jutrzenka [pl] (Hebrew: Ayelet ha-Shaḥar), which sought to promote among Jews the Polish language and way of life.[5] The periodical was closed during the January Uprising on 23 October 1863 and he was exiled to Siberia.[6]

Upon returning to Warsaw two years later, the tsarist authorities forbade Neufeld from teaching or printing in the press. He instead dedicated himself to promoting progressive Judaism and assimilation.[3][7] He published a Polish translation of the books of Genesis and Exodus, with a commentary (1863); a pamphlet on the establishment of a Jewish consistory in Poland entitled Urzadzenie Konsystorza Zydowskiego w Polsce; a gnomology of the fathers of the Synagogue; and Polish translations of the siddur and the Haggadah (1865).[8]

Towards the end of his life Neufeld settled in Piotrków, where he served as the honorary director of a Jewish hospital.[4] He died in Warsaw in October 1874.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Rosenthal, Max (1905). "Neufeld, Daniel". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 235–236.

1. "Cmentarze m. st. Warszawy". Cmentarze żydowskie [Jewish cemeteries] (in Polish). Warsaw: Rokart. 2003. ISBN 978-83-916419-3-4. OCLC 968675979.
2. Wodziński, Marcin (2005). "Neither Hatred, nor Solidarity: Integrationists and Hasidim in Congress Poland in Light of 'Jutrzenka' and its Circles (1861–1863)". Journal of Jewish Studies. 56 (1). Translated by Cozens, Sarah: 120–137. doi:10.18647/2587/JJS-2005.
3. Cała, Alina (2008). "Neufeld, Daniel". In Hundert, Gershon (ed.). YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Translated by Auerbach, Karen. New Haven: Yale University Press.
4. Fałowski, Janusz. "Częstochoviana in Daniel Neufeld's Jutrzenka". The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
5. Zinberg, Israel (1976). Hasidism and Enlightment (1780–1820). A History of Jewish Literature. Vol. 9. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-87068-476-0. OCLC 2137017.
6. Bauer, Ela (23 April 2015). "In Warsaw and Beyond: The Contribution of Hayim Zelig Slonimski to Jewish Modernization". In Dynner, Glenn; Guesnet, François (eds.). Warsaw. The Jewish Metropolis: Essays in Honor of the 75th Birthday of Professor Antony Polonsky. Leiden: Brill. p. 85. ISBN 978-90-04-29181-2.
7. "Daniel Neufeld". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
8.  Rosenthal, Herman; Rosenthal, Max (1905). "Neufeld, Daniel". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 235–236.