Jüdische Lexicon and Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jüdisches Lexicon and the Encyclopaedia Judaica surpassed the limits of a reference work. The encyclopedias discussed German Jewish novels and the Talmud as well as socialist Jewish movements and Hasidism. The editors of the Jüdisches Lexicon emphasized new sub-disciplines such as statistics and folklore and were more obvious in their support for the Zionist cause. However, the Encyclopaedia Judaica indirectly supported the cause by including lengthy articles on the Hebrew language and Jerusalem. The major difference between the two German Jewish encyclopedias was that the Lexicon was addressed chiefly to the lay Jewish population and the Encyclopaedia Judaica was aimed at both lay and professionals. This is reflected in the fact that the Jüdisches Lexicon allotted more space to the "g-dless Jew" Sigmund Freud, than to the entry on the medieval rabbinic authority Nahmanides.

Jüdische Lexicon was published in four volumes between 1927-1930. Jüdisches Lexicon was initiated 30 years after the first proposal for a German Jewish encyclopedia by Heinrich Graetz failed in 1887. It was started not by a luminary of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, but by a young archivist named Georg Herlitz, who had grown up without much Jewish knowledge in an acculturated German Jewish family, and fellow student of similar background, Bruno Kirschner. Both Herlitz and Kirschner felt a strong desire for Jewish learning and to diffuse it to those who do not have the opportunity or willingness to attend institutes of higher Jewish education. By the end of their project, more than 300 participants produced almost 4,000 pages containing about 15,000 entries and approximately 2,000 illustrations.

Encyclopaedia Judaica was published in ten volumes between 1928-1934. In contrast to the German background of both Heinrich Herlitz and Bruno Kirschner, the initiators of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Nahum Goldmann and Jakob Klatzkin, were both of East European origin and well-versed in traditional Judaism. Like its predecessor, Encyclopaedia Judaica raised the level of Jewish knowledge among the German speaking Jewish population. The most intellectually significant contribution was its emphasis on aspects of Jewish history and culture that had widely been neglected by traditional Wissenschaft. Social and economic history was explored more thoroughly than the customary history of suffering and erudition. Gershom Scholem occupied a significant place in the main body of the encyclopedia occupying a book-length 100 columns on Kabbalah. As the third largest entry in the ten volumes, the allotment represented the editors' enthusiasm for this new discipline.

Sales from both German Jewish encyclopedias were very successful and the Jüdische Lexicon became one of the best sellers of the Judischer Verlag. Unfortunately, the Encyclopaedia Judaica was only published up until the letter L, as tensions with the Nazi regime ceased all further publications. In no other time were two such important Jewish reference works produced. Jüdische Lexicon and Encyclopaedia Judaica were among the outstanding creations of the Jewish cultural renaissance in Germany.