Steinschneider Bibliographic Database

Charles H. Manekin

It is the most authoritative source for the influence on non-Jewish culture upon Jewish culture during the Middle Ages.

The project plans to create a digitized relational database for the study of pre-modern Jewish philosophy, science, and belles-lettres, based on the standard reference-work, Die Hebraeischen Ubersetzungen des Mittelalters und dir Juden als Dolmetscher (The Hebrew Translations of the Middle Ages and the Jews as Interpreters, henceforth HU). Written by Moritz Steinschneider in 1893, HU is a thousand-page bibliographical study of over eleven hundred medieval Hebrew manuscripts composed during the golden age of Jewish philosophy and science. It is the most authoritative source for the influence on non-Jewish culture upon Jewish culture during the Middle Ages. Although unrivaled and unsurpassed, Steinschneider's work is dated and in need of revision. The Steinschneider Bibliographical Database (SBD) will include a translation and ongoing update of HU, a comprehensive list of extant manuscripts in the relevant areas with pictures of the first folios of each manuscript, selected English translations (where available and permission is attainable), and links to further information. All the materials of the SBD will be available for scholars digitally, and it is hoped that alarge portion of teh material will be available over the World Wide Web.

While the SBD is geared primarily for scholars, it will have immediate pedagogic value in college courses and for Jewish high schools. I plan to construct a presentation or series of presentations that will demonstrate the web-accessible database using texts accessible to all students, such as the medieveal Hebrew translations of Aesop's Fables and the Tales of Sinbad - both of which are treated in HU. Using the SBD, I hope to kindle interest among high school and college students in the study of the history of science and philosophy among the Jews.

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