Israel Davidson

Israel Davidson
Born	(1870-05-27)May 27, 1870 Jonava, Lithuania
Died	1939 (1940) Great Neck, New York, United States
Alma mater	Columbia University
Occupations	Writer, publisher
Known for	Otsar ha-shirah veha-piyut (Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry)

Israel Davidson (May 27, 1870,Jonava, Lithuania⁣ – 1939, Great Neck, New York) was an American writer and publisher of Lithuanian Jewish heritage. He has been recognized as one of the leading American Hebrew writers in his era. His magnum opus was the four volume Otsar ha-shirah veha-piyut = Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry (NY, 1924–1933).

Davidson studied in yeshivas in Jonava, Volozhin, and Slobodka. In 1898, he immigrated to New York, worked at a few occupations before earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Works

• The Jew in English Fiction. New York: A. H. Rosenberg, 1895.
• The Genesis of Hebrew Periodical Literature. New York: Kohn & Pollock, 1900.
• Parody in Jewish Literature. New York: Columbia University, 1907.
• Saadia’s Polemic Against Ḥiwi al-Balkhi: A Fragment. Edited by Israel Davidson. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1915.
• Otsar ha-shirah veha-piyut (Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry). 4 vols. New York, 1924–1933.
• Rhymes in Hebrew Poetry. Edited by Ismar Elbogen. Philadelphia: Dropsie College, 1940.

References

• Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735-1926, A History and Annotated Bibliography (YGBooks 2006). .