David Kaufmann - On Jewish Art

On Jewish Art

Kaufmann was the first to take up the history of art in the synagogue. The following works of his in this field may be mentioned:

• Zur Gesch. der Kunst in den Synagogen (Vienna, 1897)
• Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Handschriften-Illustration (contribution. to the édition de luxe of the Sarajevo Haggadah by D. H. Müller and I. v. Schlossar, Vienna, 1898)
• Sens et Origines des Symboles Tumulaires de l'Ancien Testament dans l'Art Chrétien Primitif (R. E. J. xiv. 33, 217).

Kaufmann also polemized much in behalf of Judaism. Noteworthy among his writings along this line are:

• Ein Wort im Vertrauen an Herrn Hofprediger Stöcker yon Einem, Dessen Name Nichts zur Sache Thut (Berlin, 1880)
• Paul de Lagarde's Jüdische Gelehrsamkeit (Leipsic, 1887), a defense of his friend and master Zunz
• Wie Heben Wir den Religiösen Sinn Unserer Mädchen und Frauen (Treves, 1893)
• introduction to S. Heller's Die Echten Hebräischen Melodien (ib. 1893)

He was also an active member of the Meḳiẓe Nirdamim, a society for the publication of old Hebrew manuscripts. Kaufmann was the possessor of a large library, which contained many valuable manuscripts, incunabula, and first editions, and of which the Marco Mortara library, acquired by Kaufmann, formed the nucleus.