JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

feather, leonard
Perplexed (3:52), Maimonides characterizes fear as resulting
from the entire system of commandments, and as expressing
a sense of shame in the presence of God. Isaac Arama (15th
century) differentiates among three types of fear in his Binding
of Isaac (ch. 92): in addition to the sublime fear of greatness
and inferior “fear not for its own sake” he posits a fear which
is the fruit of belief in the divine will, which makes possible
undetermined events. In another work (Ḥazut Kashah, ch. 3)
Arama characterizes this third type of fear as a supra-philosophical
rank, because, in his view, although the philosophers
recognized God’s supreme greatness, they did not fear God,
since in their view God could not harm people.
The fear of God was also characterized in diverse ways
in the Kabbalah by means of the different *sefirot: fear was
symbolized by the sefirot “wisdom” (ḥokhmah) (based on
Job 28:28), “understanding (binah) (based on Proverbs 1:7),
“power” (gevurah), which has the same gematria (numerical
value) as yir’ah (fear), or “kingdom” (malkhut) (based on
Mishnah Sanhedrin 2:5).
[Hannah Kasher (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Urbach, Ḥazal, 348–370. Add. Bibliography:
H. Kreisel, Maimonides’ Political Thought: Studies in Ethics,
Law and the Human Ideal (1999), ch. 7.
FEATHER, LEONARD (1914–1994), jazz critic, producer,
composer, lyricist, and instrumentalist. Feather was born into
an upper-middle-class Jewish family in the London suburbs
and was supposed to follow his father into the family garment
business, but after a friend played Louis Armstrong’s “West
Side Blues” for him in a local record store, young Leonard decided
on another career path. He had already been studying
piano and clarinet, so his musical knowledge was greater than
many of his early competitors. At the urging of the American
record producer and critic John Hammond, Feather made
his way to the United States in 1935 and never looked back.
He quickly became an influential critic at Esquire and Metronome,
eventually landing the job of jazz critic at the Los Angeles
Times. More important, Feather was a prolific author,
responsible for several key texts including The Encyclopedia
of Jazz (co-edited with Ira Gitler) and the pioneering volume
Inside Bebop (1949), his first book, and countless liner notes.
From his pulpit at the LA Times, Feather was also a tireless opponent
of segregation and racism in jazz at a time when few
regular jobs were open to African-American musicians.
Bibliography: G. Giddins, “Leonard Feather, 1914–1980,”
in: The Village Voice (Sept. 29, 1980); “The Leonard Feather Scrapbooks,”
at: www.leonardfeather.com; P. Watrous, “Leonard Feather,
80, Composer and the Dean of Jazz Critics,” in: New York Times
(Sept. 24, 1994).
[George Robinson (2nd ed.)]
FEDER, ERNST (Ernesto A., pseudonym: Spectator; 1881–
1964), German lawyer and journalist. Born into a liberal German-Jewish
family in Berlin, Feder studied law, economics,
and history, completing his Ph.D. with a prize-winning thesis
(Verantwortlichkeit fuer fremdes Verschulden nach dem
Buergerlichen Gesetzbuche) at Berlin University in 1902. From
1907, he worked as an independent lawyer in Berlin, joined by
Arthur Loewe in 1911. He also contributed to several legal and
economic journals. In 1918, together with Theodor *Wolff and
others, he founded the German Democratic Party (DDP) and
was elected its chairman. From 1919 to 1931, he was domestic
politics editor of the Berliner Tageblatt, the leading democraticliberal
paper of the Weimar Republic (edited by Wolff from
1907 to 1933). Owing to a dispute with the publisher, Feder
resigned in 1931 and resumed private law practice besides
working as a freelance writer and journalist. He was elected a
member of several press associations and judicial bodies, including
the Tribunal d’Honneur International des Journalists
in The Hague (1931–33). An ardent supporter of post-imperial
democratic Germany, Feder rejected Zionism and was active in
Jewish communal organizations like the *Central-Verein. He
was a close friend of leading German-Jewish figures like Paul
*Nathan and James *Simon (cf. LBI YB, 10 (1965), 3–23).
In 1933, Feder managed to flee via Switzerland to Paris
where he gave lectures at the Collège libre des Sciences Sociales
and the Institut de Droit International, contributed to
various papers like Mass und Wert (est. by Thomas *Mann)
and Aufbau, and frequently traveled to Denmark, Finland, and
Tunisia. After being interned at the Camp de la Braconne, he
fled to Brazil in July 1941. In Rio de Janeiro, he continued lecturing
and writing well over 40 papers in Brazil and abroad.
After he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1952, he
was personally invited by Theodor Heuss and others to return
to West Berlin, where he lived from 1957 until his death
in 1964. His literary papers were donated to the Leo Baeck Institute
New York. Among his published works are numerous
legal and economic studies (cf. ABJ, 6 (1998), 509–513), several
biographies, and historical studies: Theodor Barth und
der demokratische Gedanke (1919); Hugo Preuss. Ein Lebensbild
(1926); Politik und Humanitaet. Paul Nathan. Ein Lebensbild
(1929; cf. LBI YB, 3 (1958), 60–80); Bismarcks grosses Spiel.
Die geheimen Tagebuecher Ludwig Bambergers (1932); and Les
Huguenots en Allemagne (1935). Feder’s memoirs, Encontros /
Encuentros (1944/45), originally appeared in Portuguese and
Spanish (German edition: Begegnungen. Die Großen der Welt
im Zwiegespräch, 1950). His diaries were first published by A.
Paucker, “Searchlight on the Decline of the Weimar Republic
– The Diaries of Ernst Feder,” in: LBI YB, 13 (1968), 161–234;
Heute sprach ich mit … Tagebuecher eines Berliner Publizisten
1926–1932, ed. C. Lowenthal-Hensel / A. Paucker (1971).
Bibliography: Aufbau, no. 12 (1956); MB (April 17, 1964 and
1965); W. Roeder (ed.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central
European Emigrés 1933–1945, vol. I (1980), 168; H. Schmuck (ed.),
Jewish Biographical Archive, F. 237 (1995), 140–45; Series II, F. II/145
(2003), 197–204; R. Heuer (ed.), Archiv Bibliographia Judaica, vol. VI
(1998), 505–13 (incl. bibl.).
[Johannes Valentin Schwarz (2nd ed.)]
FEDER, RICHARD (1875–1970), Czech rabbi; from 1953
chief rabbi of Moravia residing in Brno, and from 1961 also
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