JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

chief rabbi of Bohemia. After graduating at the Vienna rabbinical
seminary, he officiated in Kojetin and other communities,
where the preaching was conducted in Czech (Louny,
Roudnice nad Labem, and Kolin). During the war he was sent
to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt where he was active
as a rabbi. A prolific writer, Feder wrote popular works on
Jewish lore and conducted research on the history of the communities
of Roudnice nad Labem and Kolin. His main works
are Židovská tragedie (“Jewish Tragedy,” 1947), one of the first
books published on the Holocaust; Židovské besídky (“Jewish
Tales”; several volumes) for children; Hebrejská učebnice
(1923), a textbook of Hebrew, also in German; Židé a kreštáné
(“Jews and Christians,” 1919); Židovství a židé (“Jews and Judaism,”
1955); and Sinai (1955), a textbook of Jewish religious
instruction. In 1965 the state conferred on Feder a medal in
recognition of his part in reconstruction and his “uncompromising
stand in the fight against fascism and for peace.”
Bibliography: Věstnik židovských náboženskýchobci v československu,
27, no. 8 (1965), 1–2; 27, no. 11 (1965), 2–3; A. Charim, Die toten
Gemeinden (1966), 29–36; R. Iltis, in: Židovská ročenka (1965/66),
78; R. Feder, ibid., 31–38; (1960/61), 28–37.
FEDER, TOBIAS (pseudonym of Tobias Gutman; c. 1760–
1817), Haskalah writer, poet, and grammarian, born in Przedborz,
near Cracow. Supporting himself by teaching, proofreading,
and commerce, he wandered through Galicia, Poland,
and Russia. In Galicia he associated himself with the leading
Haskalah writers, differing from them in his sharp polemic
style directed against all those whose views on science and literature
differed from his own. He was a versatile writer and
wrote plays, satires, and studies in linguistics and grammar,
seeking to synthesize Haskalah and tradition. However, the
major part of his work was apparently lost and only a small
fraction ever published, most of it posthumously. His works
include: Kol Nehi (Warsaw, 1798), an elegy on *Elijah b. Solomon,
the Vilna Gaon – and Shem u-She’erit (first published
in Lemberg, 1877), a collection of poems. He also wrote poems
in honor of Czar Alexander I’s victory over Napoleon,
Shir Haẓlaḥat Aleksander be-Ḥaẓoto et Mitkomemav (1814)
and Simḥah ve-Sason la-Yehudim (Berdichev, 1814). Several
of his smaller works were published in the Hebrew newspaper
Ḥavaẓẓelet. His early grammatical work Beit Toviyyah (no
longer extant) formed the basis for the introduction to Hebrew
grammar in his Mevasser Tov (Mohilev, 1820?), which included
a work on the Masorah, Menorat Shelomo of R. Phoebus of
Dubrovno, as well as poems and novellae. Feder was also the
author of the first anti-Yiddish polemic work in Hebrew Kol
Meḥaẓeẓim (Berdichev, 1816; Lemberg, 1853) which was directed
against Mendel *Levin’s Yiddish translation of the biblical
book of Proverbs. Publication of this polemic was, however,
withheld, at the request of Levin’s friends, until after the
death of both men.
Bibliography: Klausner, Sifrut, 1 (19522), 239ff., and see bibliography
for Mendel *Levin.
[Getzel Kressel]
federbusch, simon
FEDERATIONS OF COMMUNITIES, TERRITORIAL.
Throughout the Middle Ages and early modern times individual
Jewish communities, though jealous of their independence,
formed on occasion federations on a district, regional,
or countrywide basis. These were prompted in the Middle
Ages in many instances by external needs, principally the
obligation imposed by the government to collect state and
other taxes on a corporate basis, and in others by internal
need and trends. Such consolidations were largely sporadic
and came into being for a specific purpose. In some countries,
however, they were of long duration. *Synods in France and
other countries brought communities together to consult on
matters of mutual interest and to adopt regulations, mainly
on the internal social, moral, judicial, and political affairs of
the communities. Frequently conferences were convened for
such purposes.
In Aragon communities of entire districts formed into
collecta for tax collection. In other countries also the insistence
of the state authorities to bargain on taxes with the communities
of the entire domain, or at least of a wide region, resulted
in the formation of federations, some ephemeral, and some
more lasting; some were formed on Jewish initiative and others
ordered by the state. Many of these federations of communities,
once engaged in a common enterprise, utilized their
mutual contacts to further their internal needs. Such were the
*Councils of the Lands of Poland-Lithuania, and Bohemia and
Moravia in the late Middle Ages as well as the *Landjudenschaft
of German principalities up to the 18th century.
In modern times much of the organization of the newtype
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform congregations has
been based on territorial federation. Freed from the task of
tax collection they serve on a voluntary basis the religious requirements,
social needs, and aims of the trend to which they
adhere within the boundaries of the state. The formation of
such federations received considerable stimulus through the
growing sense of patriotism to the state, the break-up of the
old local community, the wish of opponent religious camps
to secure a countrywide framework to strengthen their positions,
and the rapid development of modern communications
systems. The movements to *autonomism and the implementation
of *minority rights also considerably influenced the formation
of federations between the two world wars.
See also history of individual countries in Europe;
*United States; *Va’ad Le’ummi, *Takkanot.
Bibliography: Baron, Community, 3 (1942), index; O.I.
Janowsky, Change and Challenge, a History of 50 years of JWB
(1966).
[Isaac Levitats]
FEDERBUSCH, SIMON (1892–1969), rabbi, author, and
Zionist leader. Federbusch was born in Narol, Galicia. He
was ordained by prominent rabbis in Poland before World
War I and also received a rabbinical degree from the Vienna
*Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt in 1923. He settled in
Lvov (Lemberg) and was a member of the Polish Sejm (parlia-
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