Prof. Hermann Schapira-Founder of JNF
BY JOSEF FRAENKEL
Special Jewish News
London Correspondent
Hermann Schapira (born Aug.
16, 1840, in Erswilken), the son of
a rabbi, was an "Illui" and at the
tender age of 8 he was already
held in high esteem by the Litvaks
for his knowledge of "Gemara"
and "Tosafot." He progressed from
one yeshiva to another, poring
over the Holy Books by day and
by night, and at the age of 24 was
a rabbi in Krutingen. But this was
not to be his vocation and, driven
by a burning thirst for secular
knowledge, he relinquished the
post of rabbi. Once, by chance, he
came across a book on mathema-
tics, and from that moment he
never ceased to occupy himself
with mathematical problems. In
1868 he came to Berlin - destitute
and hungry. He often slept in parks
and could hardly afford a dry
crust, but the urge to study was
more powerful than his misery.
111 health compelled him to leave
the "Gewerbe Akademie" (Acad-
emy of Industry) in Berlin for
Odessa. After many adventures
and experiences he returned - al-
most 10 years later - to Germany
to study mathematics at Heidel-
berg University.
Schapira was a mathematical
genius. In Berlin, previously, he
had attracted the attention of Prof.
Siegfried Heinrich Aronhold, and
now once more it was to be Prof.
Immanuel Lazarus Fuchs and
Prof. Moritz Cantor, both mathe-
maticians of world renown, who
were to introduce him to the more
advanced level of higher mathe-
matics.
* * •
A Hebrew work "Middot" (Mea-
sures), quoted by Rashi, was
thought to be lost until Dr. Moritz
Steinschneider, the. "father of
Jewish bibliography," discovered
a Hebrew manuscript in the Mu-
nich Library which was considered
to be identical with the "Middot."
When the scholar Leopold Zunz,
the founder of "Wissenschaft des
Judentums" (Science of Judaism),
celebrated his 70th birthday in
1864, Steinschneider published this
first work on geometry in Hebrew,
"Mishnat Hamiddot," in his honor.
Cantor persuaded Schapira to
translate it into German (Leipzig,
1880). Schapira's introduction and
in particular his comments clearly
demonstrated that he was at home
in the world of mathematics. He
was ingenious in his elucidations
and had his own methods of re-
solving problems.
One year later he published the
work "Grundlage einer Theorie
allgemeiner Cofunktionen" in Leip-
zig and also in Odessa, in the Rus-
sian language. Soon further works
appeared which were highly prais-
ed by experts. In 1883 he became
Privatdocent and then a member
of the German Mathematical Soc-
iety.
• • •
The appointment of Gustav Weil,
the Orientalist and -translator of
the "Arabian Nights," as professor
at Heidelberg University (1861),
was highly gratifying to German
Jewry, for he was, after all, the
first German Jew to become pro-
fessor at Heidelberg, the Oxford
of Germany. But a greater sensa-
tion was to follow. An "Ostjude"
of medium or even smaller build,
with a Tisha b'Av countenance
and the beard of a rabbi - with
flickering eyes like two Yahrzeit
candles and dressed in a style part
yiddish part "daitsch" - who
took hte degree of PhD without
even having passed the necessary
high school examinations became
in 1888 professor of mathematics
at Heidelberg University.
Before writing this article, I
searched for Schapira's name in
old mathematical year books and
journals. I found a number of im-
portant works published, usually
lectures which he had held at con-
tical Society. He was considered to
be one of the greatest mathematic-
ians of his generation.
In the encyclopedia "Allgemeine
Deutsche Biographie" (Leipzig,
1907), Cantor wrote that only ex-
tracts of Schapira's lectures at
congresses of- natural scientists
had been made public. He drew
the attention of scholars to "thou-
sands of closely-written papers"
which were in Schapira's "neglec-
ted literary remains." What has
happened to these papers? Where
are they now?
* * *
It is good that Heine's poems
and those of others have been
translated into Hebrew. But it
would be just as important to
translate the works of our great
scholars, such as Schapira, into
Hebrew.
Schapira had a mathematical
mind but a heart devoted to Zion.
He was a Hovevei Zionist and his
wanderings and sufferings in order
to study led him to concentrate on
two old ideas - the foundation of
a university in Jerusalem, where,
to begin with, the German lang-
uage would be used and later, He-
brew, and the establishment of a
Territorial Fund (later the Jewish
National Fund). He did not attend
the Kattowitz Conference of the
Hovevci Zionists (1884) but by
then, he, a "Docent at Heidelberg
University," sent his plans in writ-
ing. However, they were not even
discussed and together with other
proposals were passed to a com-
mission which quietly hushed it
all up. Schapira did not accept
defeat but wrote on the subject
from time to time in Hebrew
papers or spoke about it in the
society "Zion" which he had form-
ed in Heidelberg. He believed in
"deeds, not words."
* * *
When Theodor Herzl came upon
the scene with his "Jewish State"
(1896), the Hovevei Zionists of both
East and West Europe were his
greatest antagonists. Even Scha-
pira considered political Zionism
to be dangerous and fantastic, and
he believes that because of it the
Sultan would forbid any kind of
colonization at all in Palestine.
Conflicts arose in the "Zion" soc-
iety between the "old" professor
and the younger students, among
them Leib Jaffe and Joseph Klaus-
ner, who were full of enthusiasm
for Herzl and his convening of the
Zionist Congress.
Mathias Acher, in Berlin, tried
to win over leading Hovevei Zion-
ists for the Congress, and in Colo-
gne, Max Bodenheimer and David
Wolffsohn, exerted themselves "to
capture" the stubborn mathema-
tician. In Bingen, a minyan of
Zionists gathered together and here
Schapira at first declined the in-
vitation to attend the Congress as
a delegate, with the words: "They
hang a flag from the roof before
the building is erected." But in
the end he yielded and threw him-
self wholeheartedly into the work.
He sent his suggestions to Vienna,
where Herzl, full of 'appreciation,
published Schapira's detailed argu-
ments in favor of a "Territorial
Fund" on the first page of his
weekly "Die Welt," a week before
the Congress. With this too, Scha-
pira opened the discussions which
were to continue in every country
where there were Zionists.
Heidelberg, with only one or two
dozen Zionists, sent eight delegates
to the first Zionist Congress in
Basle (1897): B. Epstein, -P. Hein-
rich, L. Jaffe, J. Klausner, I. Mel-
nik, I. A. Rivkin, Prof. H. Schapira
and Mrs. H. Schapira. In Basle
Schapira was the only university
professor among the delegates, and
his presence added in no small
measure to the prestige and value
of the Congress and Zionism. Scha-
pira had at last the opportunity to
further his two plans, and he rec-
ognized that the Zionist Organiza-
tion would in time transform his
ideas into reality.
"From all the Jews of the
Id " he 'd "from poor and
arieli•-ifitiWitetiffeseriee -whatso-
ever, as for the laws of the coun-
tries in which they dwell permit,
regular and periodic contributions
for the establishment of a Jewish
National Fund should be collect-
ed." And he concluded his talk on
the need for a Hebrew University:
"Ki mi-Zion to-ze Tora u'dvar
Adonai mi-Yerushalayim." ("For
out of Zion shall come forth the
Law and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem").
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
20-Friday, Decemebr 13, 1968
Detroit Artist to Draw
at Lincoln Inn on Dec. 31
Neurosis
The true believer is in a high
degree protected against the dan-
ger of certain neurotic afflictions;
by accepting the universal neurosis
he is spared the task of forming a
personal neurosis.
-Sigmund Freud.
Carl Larsen, 82-year-old Detroit
artist and caricaturist, will pre-
sent sketches to guests celebrating
New Year's Eve at the Lincoln
Inn. There also will be entertain-
ment.
Lincoln Inn, which has 155 guest
WHEN YOU
A COCKTAIL
rooms, accommodates up to 1,000
in meeting and dining rooms. The
Inn is open all day every day.
*
Reservations are now being ac-
cepted by Gabe Terova, manager,
Thanks to Herzl's endeavors, the
386-5000.
JNF was at last created at the
Fifth Zionist Congress (1901),
based on the principles laid down
by Schapira, but it was not until
April 1, 1925, that the Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem was opened.
After the First Zionist Congress,
the Professor of Mathematics be-
came a Professor of Zionism. He
lectured at meetings, wrote letters
and kept up a correspondence with
Herzl.
At the end of 1897 the Arab
If you'd like to save some money,
scholar, Dr. Glaser, published an
you'll be interested in Direct Distance
unfriendly article "Zionism, a re-
Dialing.. It's a more economical way to
opening of the Oriental question"
call Long Distance because direct dialed
in the Berliner Tageblatt. He tried
calls are all Station-to-Station instead of
to discredit Zionism and to justify
the Sultan's mistrust of Herzl.
Person-to-Person.
Glaser was an opponent of a Jew-
It's easy, too. Just•dial "1", then the
ish Palestine and proposed Jewish
Area Code, if it's different from your
colonization - in Arabia. Max
own, and the number you want. For an
Nordau wrote to the Berliner
Idea of how much you can save, here's
Tageblatt and called Glaser's
an example. A 3-minute Person-to-
statements slander. Herzl's retort
Person call between Detroit and Chicago
was published on Jan. 4, 1898. He
costs $1.30 at the day rate. Dial direct
explained that the Zionists "seek
and
the cost is only 851.
to secure a publicly-recognized,
So whenever you're reasonably sure
legally-secured Homeland" and
the party you're calling will be there,
without mentioning Palestine he
dial direct and let the savings roll inl
was of the opinion that "Turkey
could be helped by the Jews and
the Jews by Turkey." At that time
it was intended to_ hold the Second
Zionist Congress in London, but
partly because of Glaser's article,
which described Zionism as a
"tool of the English," Basle was
again decided upon, where "Gov-
ernment, people and public opin-
ion" were in favor of Zionism.
• • •
Prof. Schapira asked Herzl why,
in his reply to Glaser, Palestine
was not mentioned, and Herzl
answered:
(C. Cadd
•
,-
Dial direct
and let the savings
roll in.
Vienna, 18th February, 1898
Dear Herr Professor,
Your advice about where to hold
the next Congress, has in the mean-
time borne fruit. As you can see in
today's issue of the "Welt," the
Congress will again meet in Basle
where we found ourselves the first
time, and Let us hope for always.
You guessed that the observations
in the Berliner Tageblatt were only
intended to tell the Turkish diplo-
macy that we are not dependent
upon Palestine. Between ourselves,
we know, of course, that we do de-
pend upon it and can go nowhere
else.
The baseness of such attacks lies
in the fact that we are compelled
to issue confusing declarations. But
between ourselves there must be no
uncertainty about Zion.
I hope you are restored to health,
my dear friend, and I greet you
and your gracious wife most cor-
dially.
Yours sincerely,
TH. HERZL."
In May 1898, although forbidden
by his doctor to make the journey,
the ailing Schapira traveled to the
conference of German Zionists in
Cologne. His last words and
thoughts were occupied with his
two beloved ideas with the JNF
and the Hebrew University. In
Cologne his condition deteriorated
and he died May 8, 1898. The child-
less Schapira left two children:
the JNF and the Hebrew Univer-
sity.
Michigan Bell
Port albs Nationwide Bd System
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