Strack, Hermann Lebrecht

STRACK, HERMANN LEBRECHT. - Protestant exegete and orientalist, who while remaining a "positive theologian" made very broad concessions to the boldest criticism, b. 6 May 1848 in Berlin, where in 1872 he became a teacher at the Wilhelmsgymnasium, in 1877 extraordinary professor at the University, in 1910 honorary professor; d. 5 Oct. 1922.

He acquired distinguished merits in three fields: a) in Hebrew and Aramaic philology; b) in the exegesis of the Old Testament; c) as a scholar of Judaism. a) He wrote: Hebräische Grammatik (Karlsruhe 1883; 14th ed. edited by A. Jepsen, Leipzig 1930); Hebräisches Vokabularium (Munich 1896; 8th ed. 1907); Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen (ibid. 1896; 6th ed. 1921), etc.; he directed two series of grammars of Oriental languages: Porta linguarum Orientalium (Leipzig, for the years 1885-1901) and Clavis linguarum Semiticarum (Leipzig 1906-22). b) His best-known philological and critical commentaries are: Katalog der hebr. Bibelhandschriften in St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg 1875, with A. Harkavy); Prophetarum posteriorum Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus (ibid. 1876); Einleitung in das Alte Testament (Leipzig 1886; 6th ed. 1906); he founded and directed with O. Zöckler the Kurzgefasster Kommentar zu der hl. Schrift des Alten und Neuen Testaments (9 vols., Munich 1886 ff.), for which he composed Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri (1894; 2nd ed. 1905) and Sprüche Salomos (1888; 2nd ed. 1899). c) He had a predilection for the science of Judaism, and not only for theoretical reasons; in 1885 he founded and directed until his death the "Institutum Iudaicum" of the University of Berlin, a seminary for the study of post-biblical Jewish literature and history and, while he was its director, also for the training of Protestant missionaries for the Jews (a similar institute was founded in 1886 in Leipzig by Franz Delitzsch [v.]; as director of that institute he founded the journal Nathanael, Zeitschrift für die Arbeit der evangelischen Kirche an Israel (Leipzig 1885 ff.); furthermore the important series Schriften des Institutum Iudaicum Berolinense (Leipzig 1886-1922; 43 numbers), a series that contains:

1) biographies of Jews converted to Protestantism; 2) numerous writings in defense of the Jews against the accusations of antisemitism (v.), e.g., Rohling (v.), not devoid of harsh polemic; 3) writings still valuable today for the science of Judaism, above all the Einleitung in Talmud und Midrasch (Leipzig 1887, 5th ed. Munich 1920), not yet superseded; furthermore: Das Blut im Glauben und Aberglauben der Völker (ibid. 1891; 8th ed. 1911); Das Wesen des Judentums (ibid. 1906); Jesus, die Häretiker und die Christen nach ältesten jüdischen Angaben (1910); Jüdische Geheimgesetze (Berlin 1920; 5th ed. 1925 etc.); even earlier he had begun the series Mischnatraktate (Leipzig 1882 ff., from 1906 with a German translation), in which he published Joma, Aboda Zara, Pirge Aboth, Sabbath, Sanhedrin, Makhoth, Pesahim, Berakhoth, besides Talmud Babylonicum codicis Monacensis 95 arte phototypica depingendum curavit H.L.S. (2 vols., plus 1 vol. Introductio, Leiden 1912). The Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch (Munich 1922-28), the most complete collection of rabbinic material illustrating the New Testament, bears his name; but the work is due entirely to P. Billerbeck (v.), and S.'s merit lies only in having suggested the important work to Billerbeck, his faithful collaborator in Nathanael, helping him with advice and revision.

Pietro Nobre