JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Emanu-El (Richard’s father), confessed that he had been converted
to Christianity at the age of 23 while working for Delitzsch,
and expressed a desire to be reaccepted formally into
the Jewish faith. He accordingly appeared before a bet din on
March 7, 1876, and was readmitted to the Jewish community
after making the necessary declarations in both German and
English (which are quoted by Richard in his biography of his
father). The proceedings were duly recorded. Ehrlich, who
weighed three hundred pounds, never obtained a real academic
post. On the one hand, Jews with academic influence
suspected his Christian connections, while on the other hand
Christians probably saw him as too much of an East European
Jew. In 1884 he published a chrestomathy containing
selections from the Talmud and the Midrashim, “for youths
and students.” His main work, however, was devoted to biblical
exegesis. From 1899 to 1901 his Hebrew commentary on
the Bible Mikra ki-Feshuto was published in Berlin in three
volumes (of the four he planned; repr. 1969). He subscribed
the title page with the pseudonym “Shabbetai b. Yom Tov ibn
Boded.” In the introduction he explained that he had written
the commentary in Hebrew so that the Hebrew reader would
study his words and comments. His book, however, received
only scant attention. The Jewish press on the whole reacted
to the book with exceptionally sharp criticism (also because
of his skeptical attitude to tradition and his attacks on the
medieval commentators), and the Christian scholars, who
had great difficulty with Modern Hebrew, almost completely
disregarded the commentary. The publication of his German
commentary on the Book of Psalms (1905), which included a
new translation, was a turning point in his life. It served as an
introduction to his German commentary on the Bible, which
like his Hebrew one consists of notes on the Bible, Randglossen
zur hebraeischen Bibel (7 vols., 1908–14). Ehrlich included
part of the material from his Hebrew commentary, but
in an expanded form, as well as new interpretations arrived
at since its publication; many of his earlier opinions are
changed here. Although Ehrlich does not mention the Documentary
Hypothesis, he employs evidence from language,
religious concepts, and institutions to assign relative “late”
and “early” dates to specific passages. Historical assessments
such as the denial of Egyptian enslavement and of the Exodus
are buried in comments to individual verses. He concentrates
on textual criticism and reconstructions, and his very numerous
emendations (especially in his German commentary)
are at times conjectural (such as haplography or dittography,
letters having a similar appearance in the ancient or in the
square script, the use of abbreviations, glosses, etc.), and in
most cases are not based on ancient translations. His comments,
which are distinguished by their originality, at times
have the quality of homiletics and are derived from Ehrlich’s
innovating spirit; yet through his sound linguistic instinct
and fine linguistic differentiations he succeeded in illuminating
and explaining, with great acumen and profundity, many
verses and linguistic usages. Ehrlich’s exegetical work is an
important contribution to modern biblical exegesis. Ehrlich’s
ehrlich, georg
work was highly influential on the Jewish translation produced
by the Jewish Publication Society in 1917 and its successor
of 1962–82.
Bibliography: S. Bernfeld, in: Ha-Shilo’aḥ, 5 (1899), 547–52;
B.Z. Halpern, in; Miklat, 2 (1920), 417–26; T. Friedlaender, in: The Nation,
110 (1920), 41; M. Haran (Diman), in: Bitzaron, 22 (1950), 190,
193–196; J. Bloch, in: JBA, 12 (1953–5), 23; A.B. Ehrlich, Mikra ki-Feshuto,
1 (19692), introd. by H.M. Orlinsky; R.J.H. Gottheil, The Life
of Gustav Gottheil: Memoir of a Priest in Israel (1936), 75–77; R.M.
Stern, in: AJA, 23 (1971), 73–85; G. Kressel, in: Hadoar (Sept. 17, 1971),
665–6. Add. Bibliography: S.D. Sperling, Students of the Covenant
(1992), 45–47; E. Greenstein, in: DBI, 1, 323–24.
[Raphael Weiss / S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
EHRLICH, EUGEN (1862–1922), jurist. Born in Czernowitz,
Ehrlich was associate professor of Roman Law in the university
there from 1899 to 1914. In this capacity he made an important
contribution to the study of the sociology of law, his
thesis being that the law of society was the only “living law”
and that the norms of a legal system must conform with the
laws of society. Ehrlich was removed from all teaching posts
in 1919 following antisemitic attacks by the student body in
the nationalist press. His main works were translated into
English and had a profound influence on American legal and
sociological thought in the 20th century. These include Grundlegung
der Soziologie des Rechts (1913, Fundamental Principles
of the Sociology of Law, 1936). Although Ehrlich renounced
Judaism in his youth he became interested in Jewish affairs
in his later years and his treatise Die Aufgabe der Sozialpolitik
im oesterreichischen Osten (1916) discusses the question of the
Jews and the peasants.
Bibliography: H. Sinzheimer, Juedische Klassiker der deutschen
Rechtswissenschaft (1938), 231–55.
[Guido (Gad) Tedeschi]
EHRLICH, GEORG (1897–1966), graphic artist and sculptor.
Born in Vienna, he studied at the Arts and Crafts School
in Vienna under Oscar Strnad and Franz Cizek from 1912 to
1915. During World War I he served in the Austrian Army until
1918. In 1919 at his first exhibition Ehrlich became known
for lithographs revealing the influence of Oskar Kokoschka.
After he had been exhibited along with other modern artists
such as Barlach, Beckmann, and Kokoschka in Munich, Paul
Cassirer approached him with a commission for an album
of lithographs entitled “Biblical Portfolio.” The lithographs
of this album reflect a deeply conscious Jewish identification
and an intensely Jewish upbringing. At the same time, Ehrlich
also painted watercolors of landscapes. He took up sculpture
in 1926, in the graceful, elongated style of Lehmbruck, who
remained a lasting influence. He cast numerous small-scale
sculptures and busts in bronze, his favorite material. Ehrlich
was already a prominent artist when in 1937 he was forced by
the Nazis to leave Austria. He settled in England where he
soon became established. His heads of the composer Benjamin
Britten (1950) and the singer Peter Pears are among the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 243