1. In the 1850s, Leipzig attained a prominent position in the field of Qaraite studies due to its unique collection of this literature in Europe  – manuscripts that were acquired by Constantin von Tischendorf (1815–1874). During this period, the only larger collection of Qaraite manuscripts in Europe was housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.1 Other significant collections, which are of great interest to scholars today, had not yet been established. For instance, Abraham Firkovitch (1786–1874) sold his extensive collection of Qaraite manuscripts only in the 1860s,2 and the British Museum in London did not acquire its substantial Qaraite manuscript collection until the late 1870s.3 As a result, the collection of Tischendorf in Leipzig became a hub for specialists interested in studying original Qaraite manuscripts that were unavailable elsewhere at the time.

Figure 1: Constantin von Tischendorf, c. 1865-1875. Courtesy of Tufts Digital Library.

2. Constantin von Tischendorf is chiefly renowned for his work as a New Testament scholar, particularly for his famous acquisition of part of the manuscript later known as Codex Sinaiticus from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, which he brought back to Leipzig and St. Petersburg.4 However, it is less well-known that during his travels to the Levant, Tischendorf also collected Syriac, Coptic, Georgian, Ethiopian, Druze, Hebrew, Arabic, and Judeo-Arabic manuscripts. Tischendorf acquired the bulk of his Qaraite manuscripts in 1853 in Cairo from the local Qaraite community and supported by the German physician Franz Pruner.5

3. Before Tischendorf’s collection of manuscripts came to the city, Leipzig had already been a prominent center for the scholarship of Arabic for quite some time. Leipzig boasted the first professorship for Arabic at the University of Leipzig, which was awarded to Johann Christian Clodius (1676–1745) in 1728.6 Clodius earned his reputation through his works Theoria et praxis linguae arabicae, one of the earliest accounts of spoken Arabic, and his Lexicon hebraicum selectum. In 1836, the professorship for Arabic studies was transferred from the faculty of theology to the faculty of philosophy under the direction of Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (1801–1888). Fleischer was instrumental in establishing the University of Leipzig’s international reputation in the field of Arabic studies, supporting Jewish students and colleagues who were disadvantaged at the staunchly Protestant university.7 He also made significant contributions to the academic community, including publishing descriptions of Tischendorf’s Arabic manuscripts.8 Moreover, the local university library acquired a handful of Qaraite manuscripts from the municipal library.9

4. In Leipzig, Tischendorf was influenced by some of the early scholars who worked on Qaraite materials, and who significantly aided him in understanding his manuscripts. Among these figures was Julius Fürst (1805–1873), whose works published between 1862 and 1869 were primarily concerned with the Qaraites of Eastern Europe.10 In 1839, Fürst became private lecturer at the University of Leipzig. Although the faculty of theology admitted with Fürst the first non-baptized Jew, the university administration continued to portray itself as a bulwark of Lutheranism. It would thus deny Fürst a regular position for twenty-five years until he became a titular professor.11 Fürst lectured three times about Qaraite subjects beginning in 1861.12 Fürst played a crucial role in the creation of Tischendorf’s collection, because it was he who inspired Tischendorf to collect Qaraite manuscripts.13 Additionally, the Leipzig rabbi and scholar, Adolf Jellinek (1821–1893) contributed by examining the manuscripts and publishing his descriptions in a series of articles from May 1853.14

5. The bibliographer Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) was apparently dissatisfied with Jellinek’s descriptions and made a point to visit Tischendorf and his collection in Leipzig. In a letter dated 27 October 1857, Moritz Steinschneider wrote to Tischendorf to return a Qaraite manuscript which he had borrowed. In his letter, Steinschneider promised that he would soon publish the results of his analysis: “I hasten to return the handwritten manuscript with many thanks. I hope to be able to share the results of my investigation in Serapeum very soon. Enclosed is the article ‘Salomo b. David’ from my catalog.”15

6. The publication Steinschneider promised to Tischendorf would ultimately be included in the inaugural volume of Hebräische Bibliographie.16 Steinschneider’s descriptions of these manuscripts preceded the major catalogs which he would author in the following decade, and which would establish him as a leading expert of Jewish manuscripts. The importance of Tischendorf’s collection to Steinschneider may also be seen from his continued use of it in Steinschneider’s published works: He drew on these manuscripts in his Vorlesungen,17 in his Die hebräischen Übersetzungen,18 and even in his Arabische Literatur der Juden, published almost half a century after he first visited Tischendorf’s collection in Leipzig.19

7. Another notable researcher of Qaraite Judaism based in Leipzig was Franz Delitzsch (1803–1890). In the 1840s, a decade before Tischendorf began collecting Qaraite manuscripts, Delitzsch discussed in his lectures the Qaraite Masorete Jabez ben Solomon, who had commissioned the Cairo Codex of the Prophets from Moses ben Asher.20 He also worked on Aharon ben Elia’s Sefer Mizwot,21 the preservation of the original manuscript of Eshkol ha-kofer,22 he translated and commented on Dine Shechita by Aharon ben Elia,23 and he edited Aaron ben Elijah’s Ets Hayyim.24 We have no indication that he worked on the Qaraite manuscripts while Tischendorf was alive. Only decades later, Delitzsch also would leverage the materials Tischendorf had brought to Leipzig and draw on these manuscripts for his research on biblical commentaries.25

8. But Tischendorf also had adversaries in Leipzig who thought that he had no business inserting himself in Judeo-Arabic studies. In 1853, the Orientalist and diplomat Johann Gottfried Wetzstein (1815–1905) sold a collection of 472 Arabic manuscripts to the Leipzig University Library which he had acquired during his diplomatic mission in Damascus.26 Tischendorf felt encouraged to offer his manuscripts to the same institution. Jellinek, writing in May of that year, anticipated that the first Tischendorf collection would soon be available to scholars at the Leipzig University Library.27 Wetzstein, however, slandered Tischendorf before Fleischer: “Mr. Tischendorff knows exactly how to sell straw [tibn] as gold [dahab]. I would be disheartened if the local library was tricked by this crook, who most certainly made his most recent trip only with the intention of buying a whole bunch of books and scraps, which he saw somewhere on his first trip, for a pittance, and making a bargain with it. Since he understands as little of the Arabic language and literature as I do of the language of the Hottentots, it would be quite preposterous to expect other fruits from his journey. […] I implore Your Reverence to prevent Tischendorf’s fraud and assassination.”28

9. The kingdom of Saxony indeed refused Tischendorf’s offer for reasons not discussed in the correspondence.29 However, this refusal to buy the manuscripts was sent before Wetzstein wrote his letter to Fleischer. Therefore, Wetzstein was probably not the reason why the Leipzig University Library did not acquire Tischendorf’s collection. It may be indicative of Tischendorf’s negative reputation in Saxony, which we have not found in other sources, but it may explain his unsuccessful offer.

10. After Tischendorf’s attempt to sell his Qaraite manuscripts to the University Library of Leipzig failed, he presented a small selection of them to this institution – unfortunately we do not know what motivated this decision.30 He later sold the remaining manuscripts to the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg (today Russian National Library).31 The Russian czar supported Tischendorf’s third journey to the Levante in 1859 from which he brought the remaining part of Codex Sinaiticus and many other manuscripts, including several Qaraite texts, to St. Petersburg. The greater portion of his collection was all but forgotten after the Imperial Public Library acquired the much larger Firkovitch collection a few years later. Only a handful of Tischendorf’s Qaraite manuscripts remain today in Leipzig, but the impact of the collection in this period facilitated the research done by later generations.

11. A more in-depth study of Tischendorf’s Jewish manuscript collections, including an inventory of all items that can be attributed to him, will be published in Jewish Studies Quarterly.

References

  1. See David Sklare, “A Guide to Collections of Karaite Manuscripts,” in Karaite Judaism, ed. Meira Polliack (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2003), 894–96, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004294264_037. ↩︎
  2. See Shimon Iakerson, Abraham Firkovich de Karaïet: en zijn verzameling Hebreeuwse en Samaritaanse manuscripten in Sint-Petersburg (Amsterdam: Vossiuspers UvA, 2007); Daria Vasyutinsky Shapira, “Early stages of research of the Firkowicz Collections Manuscripts: the emergence of Russian Jewish studies” (PhD thesis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2018). ↩︎
  3. See George Margoliouth and Jacob Leveen, “Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum,” vol. IV (London, 1935), v–xiii. ↩︎
  4. See Christfried Böttrich, “Constantin von Tischendorf und der Transfer des Codex Sinaiticus nach St. Petersburg,” Die Theologische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig, 2005, 253; Christfried Böttrich, Der Jahrhundertfund: Entdeckung und Geschichte des Codex Sinaiticus (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2011); Christfried Böttrich et al., eds., Tischendorf und die Suche nach der ältesten Bibel: Katalog zur Ausstellung in der Bibliotheca Albertina, 18. Februar–29. Mai 2011, Schriften aus der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig 21 (Leipzig: Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2011). ↩︎
  5. See Moritz Steinschneider, “Die Tischendorf’schen Handschriften”, Hebräische Bibliographie I, 5 (1858), 105–106. ↩︎
  6. See Siegfried, “Clodius, Johann Christian,” Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 4 (1876): 336. ↩︎
  7. See Holger Preißler, “Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer. Ein Leipziger Orientalist, seine jüdischen Studenten, Promovenden und Kollegen,” in Bausteine einer jüdischen Geschichte der Universität Leipzig, ed. Stephan Wendehorst (Leipzig: Universitätsverlag, 2006), 245–68. ↩︎
  8. See Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer, “Beschreibung der von Prof. Dr. Tischendorf im J. 1853 aus dem Morgenlande zurückgebrachten christlich-arabischen Handschriften,” in Kleinere Schriften, vol. 3 (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1888), 389–94. ↩︎
  9. See Sklare, “Guide to Collections,” 917–18. ↩︎
  10. Julius Fürst, Geschichte des Karäerthums von 900 bis 1865 der gewöhnlichen Zeitrechnung, eine kurze Darstellung seiner Entwickelung, Lehre und Literatur mit dazugehörigen Quellennachweisen (Leipzig: Ries, 1862/1869). ↩︎
  11. See Katharina Vogel, “Der Orientalist Julius Fürst (1805-1873): Wissenschaftler, Publizist und engagierter Bürger,” in Bausteine einer jüdischen Geschichte der Universität Leipzig, ed. Stephan Wendehorst (Leipzig:
    Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2006), 44–45 and Hartmut Zwahr and Jens Blecher, eds., Geschichte der Universität Leipzig, 1409-2009. Das neunzehnte Jahrhundert. 1830/31–1909 (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2009), 220–21. ↩︎
  12. See “Fürst, Julius (1805–1873) [HistVV],” HistVV – Historische Vorlesungsverzeichnisse der Universität Leipzig, accessed 19 July 2022, https://histvv.uni-leipzig.de/dozenten/fuerst_j.html. ↩︎
  13. See Adold Jellinek, “Literarische Berichte,” Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums II, no. 6 (1853): 246. ↩︎
  14. See Jellinek; Adold Jellinek, “Literarische Berichte,” Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums II, no. 7 (1853): 286–88; no. 9 (1853): 360–65. ↩︎
  15. Moritz Steinschneider. Letter to Constantin von Tischendorf, 29 October 1857. Leipzig University Library, Ms.01024/144. ↩︎
  16. See Moritz Steinschneider, “Die Tischendorf’schen Handschriften,” Hebräische Bibliographie I, no. 1 (1858): 18–21; no. 3 (1858): 70–71; no. 5 (1858): 105–106; II, no. 11 (1859): 92–93; IV, no. 20 (1861): 45–48; V, no. 26 (1862): 49–54; VII, no. 37 (1864): 11–16. ↩︎
  17. Moritz Steinschneider, Vorlesungen über die Kunde hebräischer Handschriften, deren Sammlungen und Verzeichnisse (Leipzig, 1897), 6, 82, 86. ↩︎
  18. Moritz Steinschneider, Die hebraeischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher: ein Beitrag zur Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters, meist nach handschriftlichen Quellen (Berlin: Kommissionsverlag des Bibliographischen Bureaus, 1893), 458. ↩︎
  19. Moritz Steinschneider, Die Arabische Literatur der Juden: ein Beitrag zur Literaturgeschichte der Araber, grossenteils aus handschriftlichen Quellen (Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1902), 77, 84, 91, 252, 275, 282, 300. ↩︎
  20. Paul Kahle, Der hebräische Bibeltext seit Franz Delitzsch. Franz Delitzsch Vorlesungen. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1961). ↩︎
  21. Franz Delitzsch, “Ueber Ahron b. Elia’s Sefer Mizwot,” Literaturblatt des Orients 1 (1840): 633–35. ↩︎
  22. Franz Delitzsch, “Literaturgeschichtliche Miscellen,” Literaturblatt des Orients 1 (1841): 284. ↩︎
  23. Franz Delitzsch, “Dine Schechita von Ahron Ben Elia Dem jüngeren,” Literaturblatt des Orients 1 (1840): 241–47, 273–76, 433–36, 454–57, 465–67, 488–90. ↩︎
  24. Franz Delitzsch, ed., Ets Hayyim. Ahron ben Elia’s aus Nikomedien des Karäers System der Religionsphilosophie. (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1841). ↩︎
  25. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblischer Commentar über die Psalmen, 4th ed. (Leipzig: Dörfling und Franke, 1883), 46. ↩︎
  26. On Wetzstein and his activities as a broker of manuscripts, see Christoph Rauch, “‘Im Wettkampfe mit den Bibliotheken anderer Nationen’: Der Erwerb arabischer Handschriftensammlungen an der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin zwischen 1850 und 1900,” in Sammler – Bibliothekare – Forscher: zur Geschichte der Orientalischen Sammlungen an der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, ed. Sabine Mangold-Will, Christoph Rauch, and Siegfried Schmitt (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2022), 94–106; Boris Liebrenz, Arabische, persische und türkische Handschriften in Leipzig: Geschichte ihrer Sammlung und Erschliessung von den Anfängen bis zu Karl Vollers, Schriften aus der Universitätsbibliothek 13 (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2008). ↩︎
  27. See Jellinek, “Literarische Berichte,” 1853, 246. ↩︎
  28. Johann Gottfried Wetzstein. Letter to Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer, 22 September 1853. Estate of Fleischer, Royal Library Copenhagen, NKS 2969-4°. I thank Boris Liebrenz for drawing my attention to this letter and making his transcription available to me (translation by me). ↩︎
  29. See D. von Zobel. Letter to Constantin von Tischendorf, 12 July 1853. Leipzig University Library, Ms. 01036h/81. ↩︎
  30. The catalog drawn up by Vollers five decades later, lists the following shelf marks as Tischendorf’s provenance: 1116–1119, see Karl Vollers, Katalog der islamischen, christlich-orientalischen, jüdischen und samaritanischen Handschriften der Universitäts-Bibliothek zu Leipzig (Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1906), 441–42. ↩︎
  31. See Avraam S. Norov. Letter to Constantin von Tischendorf, 18 January, 1858. Leipzig University Library, Ms. 01029/167. An announcement of the purchase of Tischendorf’s collection in 1858 was made in the annual report of the Imperial Public Library. A German-language summary can be found in Hamburger literarische und kritische Blätter (1859), 295–96. ↩︎

Maximilian de Molière is an associate researcher at the Universities of Haifa and Munich, specializing in the entanglement of Jews and Christians in the early modern history of Jewish books. His work frequently explores Kabbalah and epistolography, examining their transmission and reception across cultural and religious boundaries. Maximilian is also developing interactive digital resources that highlight the key figures responsible for preserving Jewish books, offering fresh insights into their impact on intellectual history.

Suggested Citation: Maximilian de Molière, “Leipzig’s Role in the Early Exploration of Qaraite Literature”, Munich Research Centre for Jewish-Arabic Cultures Blog, 13 February 2025, URL: https://www.jewisharabiccultures.fak12.uni-muenchen.de/leipzigs-role-in-the-early-exploration-of-qaraite-literature/. License: CC BY-NC 4.0.