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ettinger, shmuel
(Vilna, 1839), a work in seven sections on the inspection of
animals’ lungs; Magen Gibborim, 1 (Lemberg, 1834), 2 (Zolkieve,
1839); two commentaries on the first 235 chapters of the
Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim; glosses to and emendations
of the glosses of Mordecai *Jaffe on the Talmud (published
in the Romm Vilna edition of the Talmud); Ma’aseh Alfas (in
the Romm Vilna edition of Alfasi), glosses on the halakhot
of Isaac Alfasi and the Mordecai; Ner Ma’aravi. a commentary
on the Jerusalem Talmud which includes references under
the title Ein Mishpat and glosses thereto entitled Gilyon
ha-Shas (published in the Piotrkow 1859–60 edition of the
Jerusalem Talmud).
This fruitful partnership ended in 1859, Ettinger having
published in Solomon *Kluger of Brod’s booklet Moda’ah le-
Veit Yisrael (1859), which contained a ban against machinebaked
maẓẓot, whereupon Nathanson published a contrary
opinion in a booklet called Bittul Moda’ah (1859). After the
rift with his brother-in-law, Ettinger devoted himself to study
together with his son Isaac Aaron (Ma’amar Mordekhai, no.
58), and decided to publish responsa and novellae independently.
To this period belong his important responsa Ma’amar
Mordekhai (1852), which deal to a great extent with the laws
of *agunah. A collection of his responsa, Shevet Aḥim, has remained
in manuscript.
His most famous son was ISAAC AARON (1827–1891) who
served as rabbi in Przemysl and in 1888 succeeded Ẓevi Hirsch
Ornstein as rabbi of Lemberg, remaining there until his death.
Like his father, he at first refused all rabbinical offers, including
the rabbinate of Przemysl, and like him also served as “nasi of
the Holy Land.” His novellae were published together with his
father’s Ma’amar Mordekhai, and his responsa are found in his
Maharya ha-Levi (2 vols., 1893), as well as in various works of
contemporary rabbis.
Bibliography: S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895), 151f.; I.T. Eisenstadt
and S. Wiener, Da’at Kedoshim (1897–98), 178; H.N. Dembitzer,
Kelilat Yofi, 1 (1888), 146a–49b, 156a–b; L. Ginzberg, Perushim ve-
Ḥiddushim ba-Yerushalmi, 1 (1941), LXI (Eng. introd.); EG.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
ETTINGER, SHMUEL (1919–1988), Israeli historian. Born in
Kiev, U.S.S.R., Ettinger immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1936 and
studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received
his doctorate in 1956 for his study “The Jewish Colonization
of the Ukraine, 1569–1648.” In 1952, while still a research
student, he joined the teaching staff of the Hebrew University,
and in 1965 he became professor of modern Jewish history. He
was a visiting professor at Oxford University in 1969–70.
Ettinger’s major fields of research include Russian Jewish
history (from its beginnings until the Soviet era), the attitude
of 17th- and 18th-century European thought toward Judaism
and Jews, modern Jewish historiography, and the roots and
development of modern antisemitism.
His research on the Muscovite state and its attitude toward
the Jews and on the Jewish settlement in the Ukraine
constituted a basic contribution to the critical study of the
history of the Jews in Russia. In his study of the ḥasidic movement
and its historical influence he emphasized the role of
the ḥasidic leadership as a powerful formative factor in the
continued existence of Jewish autonomy under the centralist
regimes of Russia and Austria after the partitions of Poland.
The importance of his methodical contribution to the study of
the origins of modern antisemitism lies in his unmasking the
inherent nature of the critical, and even antagonistic attitude
toward Judaism in the major trends of modern European social
thought: from the English deism and French rationalism
of the 17th and 18th centuries to the romanticism, nationalism,
social Darwinism, and even liberalism and socialism of the
19th century. As a representative of the Jerusalem school of
Jewish studies, Ettinger emphasized a conceptual framework
revolving around the unity and continuity of Jewish history.
Within this framework he regarded the centrality of the redemptive
principle as an historical motive force even in its
secular manifestations, especially in the social and national
radicalism of modern Jewish history. His research method,
in which he regarded himself as continuing along the path of
B.Z. Dinur and Y. Baer, was characterized by the tension between
a broad teleological view of Jewish history and its central
tendencies, and a rare command of critical investigative
methods directed toward detailed elements of historical reality
in a wide variety of areas.
Ettinger’s studies were published mainly in the journals
Zion, He-Avar, Molad, Gesher, Scripta Hierosolymitana, Cahiers
d’Histoire Mondiale, and the publications of the Israel
Historical Society. He published two works of a general nature
on modern Jewish history: a volume of his university lectures,
Toledot Am Yisrael mi-Yemei ha-Absolutism ad La-Hakamat
Medinat Yisrael (“History of the Jewish People from the Era of
Absolutism until the Establishment of the State of Israel,” last
edition 1968), and Toledot Am Yisrael ba-Zeman he-Ḥadash
(“History of the Jewish People in Modern Times,” 1969), the
latter being the third volume of a series on Jewish history by
teachers of the Hebrew University. The latter volume is aimed
at a broader reading public and deals in greater detail with the
period from the 1880s until after the Six-Day War. During the
1960s, a parallel series in Russian was prepared and published
under his editorship (Ocherki po Istorii Yevreiskogo Naroda,
last edition 1972). He also published a volume of theoretical
essays, excerpts from the diary and correspondence of the historian
Graetz (Ẓvi Graetz, Darkhei ha-Historiah ha-Yehudit,
1969), and a history textbook for Israeli high schools.
Ettinger served on the editorial board of Zion, the journal
for Jewish history (editorial secretary 1955–59, and editor
from 1960) and on the executive board of the Israeli Historical
Society and the Central Archives for the History of the
Jewish People. He was among the initiators and directors of
many research projects, among them the Center for Eastern
European Jewish Studies, which he headed.
Closely related to his scientific work was his intensive
public activity, devoted mainly to two areas: the educational
system of Israel, at every level, and the national awakening of
544 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6