JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

the war that the young country must wage against those who
threaten to destroy it, and its total victory followed by peace.
Eisler prophesied a Europe without Jews after anti-Jewish legislation
and terrible persecution and predicted the path of the
German “hob-nailed boot.” The novel fell into obscurity until
it was rediscovered by Perez Sandler who identified its author
and reprinted it in a Hebrew translation (by Y. Tolkes) in an
anthology of Zionist utopias, Ḥezyonei Medinah (“Visions of a
State,” 1954), with a monograph on this utopia and its author.
The work predates *Herzl’s novel Altneuland by 17 years, and
a copy of it was found in Herzl’s personal library.
[Getzel Kressel]
EISLER, GERHART (1897–1968), East German Communist.
Born in Leipzig, he was the son of Rudolf *Eisler and became
a convinced Communist after serving with the Austrian army
in World War I. In 1930 he served as political secretary in the
Far East bureau of the Communist Trade Union International
in Shanghai. Eisler went to Spain in 1936 and later to France,
where he was interned in 1940. On his release he left for the
United States where he became a leading Communist agitator.
In 1949 he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for contempt
of Congress when he refused to be sworn as a witness
before the House of Representatives’ Un-American Activities
Committee. While free on bail pending an appeal, he escaped
to England on a Polish liner, after paying 25 cents to tour it
as a visitor. On arrival in England he was arrested on the application
of the United States Embassy, and a political storm
arose when it was suggested that there was collusion between
the British and American secret services. Eventually Eisler was
released and flew to Prague, where he engaged in Communist
propaganda activities for four years. Later he was minister of
information in East Germany (until 1952) and became chairman
of the East German radio authority. He died while on a
mission to the Soviet Union.
Bibliography: The Times (London, April 21, 1968). Add.
Bibliography: C. Epstein, The Last Revolutionaries – German
Communists in their Centuries (2003).
EISLER, HANNS (1898–1962), German composer; son of
Rudolf *Eisler. Eisler, born in Leipzig, was a pupil of Arnold
*Schoenberg and Anton von Webern in Vienna. His early
compositions were in an advanced idiom, but Eisler soon
adapted to the demands of “socialist realism.” He went to
Berlin in 1924 and wrote the music for some of Bertolt Brecht’s
plays, including Die Rundkoepfe und die Spitzkoepfe and
the incidental music for Galileo. In 1937 he immigrated to the
United States where he lectured at the New School for Social
Research, New York, and then went to Hollywood. He
was musical assistant to Charlie Chaplin (1942–47) and also
composed scores for other filmmakers. He left in 1948 under
“voluntary deportation” because of his political past. Settling
in East Berlin, he became one of the ideological leaders
of musical activity in East Germany. He taught at the Akademie
der Kuenste and received a state prize for his composi-
eisler, rudolf
tions in 1950. He composed the national anthem of the German
Democratic Republic (to a text by Johannes Becher).
He wrote an opera, Johannes Faustus (1953), which was criticized
for its mysticism. His works include symphonies (e.g.,
Deutsche Symphonie, 1937), chamber music, cantatas, a Suite
for Orchestra with Capriccio based on Jewish folksongs, operas,
oratorios, and songs.
Bibliography: Baker’s Biog Dict; Grove’s Dict; MGG; Komponisten
und Musikwissenschaftler der Deutschen Demokratischen
Republik (19592), 47–50.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
EISLER, MÁTYÁS (1865–1931), Hungarian rabbi and scholar.
Eisler was born in Paty, county of Pest, and was ordained at
the rabbinical seminary of Budapest in 1891. He taught Hebrew
at the Israelitische Lehrbildungsanstalt in 1890 and later at
the University of Kolozsvar. He was chief rabbi of Kolozsvar
from 1891 until his death. His scholarly interests included
the history of the Jews of Transylvania and Hebrew linguistics,
and among his works were Az erdelyi zsidok mult abol...
(“From the Past of the Jews of Transylvania,” 1901) and Agyökbeli
hangok interdialektikus valtozasai az aram nyelvekben
(“Interdialectal Changes of Root Sounds in the Aramaic Languages,”
1889).
Bibliography: Magyar Zsidó Lexikon (1929), s.v.
[Alexander Scheiber]
EISLER, MORITZ (1823–1902), educator and historian of
Jewish philosophy. Eisler was born in Prossnitz, Moravia. In
1853 he became a teacher of religion at the Piarist high school
and director of the communal school at Nikolsburg. In 1862
he founded an organization for the support of disabled Jewish
teachers, their widows and orphans (which later became
the “Maehrisch-Schlesischer Israelitischer Lehrerverein”)
and served as its president until 1898. His Vorlesungen ueber
die juedische Philosophie des Mittelalters (“Lectures On Jewish
Philosophy in the Middle Ages,” 3 vols., 1870–83) became
one of the first attempts to present, in popular fashion, the
main systems of medieval Jewish philosophy. In addition, he
published a number of essays on specific questions in the history
of Jewish philosophy, including essays on *Spinoza, *Ibn
Daud, and Ibn *Ẓaddik.
Bibliography: H. Heller, Maehren’s Maenner der Gegenwart,
1 (1889), 3, 28; Kuerschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender (1902); Ch.
D. Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, 1 (1881), 92; 2 (1887), 52.
EISLER, RUDOLF (1873–1926), Austrian philosopher known
for encyclopedic writings, especially his dictionaries of philosophy
and biographies of philosophers. His works, which contributed
greatly to the dissemination of philosophical ideas,
include Geschichte des Monismus (1910), Kritische Einfuehrung
in die Philosophie (1905), Woerterbuch der philosophischen
Begriffe und Ausdruecke (1899), and his Philosophen-Lexikon
(1912). He was the editor of the Wissenschaftliche Volksbibliothek.
His Kant-Lexikon was published in 1930. Eisler was the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 275