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of Man and its president in 1926. Basch was a socialist supporter
of the left-wing coalition known as the Popular Front
and a leader of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. During World
War II, Basch was a member of the central committee of the
French underground. He and his wife were executed by the
Vichy government.
His writings include Essai critique sur l’esthétique de Kant
(1896); La guerre de 1914 et le droit (1915); Les doctrines politiques
des philosophes classiques de l’Allemagne (1927), and Essais
d’esthétique de philosophie et de littérature (1934), as well as
other works on literature, philosophy, and political issues.
Add. Bibliography: F. Basch, Victor Basch ou la passion
de la justice: de l’affaire Dreyfus au crime de la milice (1994); F. Basch,
L. Crips, and P. Gruson (eds.), Victor Basch: un intellectuel cosmopolite
(2000).
BASCHKO, ẒEVI HIRSCH BEN BENJAMIN (1740–1807),
rabbi and halakhist. Baschko was the last to occupy the position
of rabbi (which he held from 1802) of the joint communities
of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbek (the “Three
Communities”) before the union was dissolved. Born in Zamosc,
Poland, of a distinguished family, he was rabbi first of
Tischwitz (Tyszowce), then from 1771 of Brody, and from 1788
of Glogau, where he established an important yeshivah. He
was one of the greatest rabbis of his day; among those who
addressed halakhic questions to him were Isaiah Berlin, Solomon
Zalman Fuerth, Phinehas Horowitz of Frankfurt, and
Meir Posner, while Ezekiel Landau and Akiva Eger referred to
him in unusually high terms of esteem. He wrote Tiferet Ẓevi,
responsa on the Shulḥan Arukh in two parts, the first on Oraḥ
Ḥayyim and Yoreh De’ah (Warsaw, 1816 (?)) and the second on
Even ha-Ezer (Jozsefov, 1867). His responsa also appear in the
works of contemporary rabbis. Some of his commentaries and
homilies are still in manuscript. He died in Ottensen, near
Altona, and was buried at Altona, his tombstone bearing the
inscription, “There arose none, nor will there ever be another,
like him.” His sons were also rabbis: Moses at Tomaszow, and
Judah Loeb at Komarno.
Bibliography: E. Duckesz, Ivvah le-Moshav (1903), xxvii
(Ger. pt.), 77–83 (Heb. pt.); I. Wolfsberg, in: Arim ve-Immahot be-
Yisrael, 2 (1948), 33f.; N.M. Gelber, ibid., 6 (1955), 59.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
BASEVI, Italian family of German origin, especially associated
with Verona. In Hebrew, they called themselves Bath-
Sheba and in abbreviation, Bash ( ש״ב). ׁ The name Naphtali
was common in the family, and therefore some of its members
took a deer’s head as their crest and became known as “Basevi
Cervetto” (Italian: “little deer”), in accordance with the Blessing
of Jacob (Gen. 49:21). Others took a boat as their crest, in
accordance with the Blessing of Moses (Deut. 33:23), and became
known as “Basevi della Gondola.” It is not clear what precise
relationship existed between this family and the Bassevi
family of Prague (see *Bassevi, Jacob von Treuenberg). The
brothers ABRAHAM and JOSEPH, sons of Sabbatai Mattathias
basevi
Bath-Sheba, were printers in Salonika (1594–1605). Abraham
subsequently became a printer in Damascus (1605–06), while
his brother had been a proofreader in the Verona press, a Midrash
Tanḥuma appearing with his name (1595).
GIOACCHINO (1780–1867), originally from Mantua,
moved to Milan at the beginning of 19th century and was
one of the earliest Italian Jews to attain distinction as a lawyer.
He defended the Tyrolese hero Andreas Hofer in his trial
for armed rebellion against Napoleon. In Milan, he wrote
and published his principal works, Il commento al Codice Civile
Austriaco (seven editions from 1845 to 1857) and Il Trattato
delle leggi attinenti al Processo Civile (1850). EMANUELE
(1799–1869) was a physician and medical writer from Pisa,
where he took the university degree in 1817. In 1823 he published
his first work, Discorso, and in 1824 L’esposizione della
Medicina Fisiologica di Broussais. Among his other works
were Cenni sulla Medicina Fisiologica confrontata colla Dottrina
Medica Italiana (1825) and Sugli uffici del medico (1826).
In 1825 the Grand Duke of Tuscany appointed him secretary
of the Jewish community of Leghorn. ABRAMO (1818–1885),
although a qualified physician, devoted himself to music,
composed some operas, launched the publication of musical
texts, and organized popular orchestral concerts. He founded
in Florence the Beethoven Matinées (1859) and afterwards the
well-known Società del Quartetto, which exerted a great influence
on Italian music life. His writings (e.g., Della Certezza,
1842) anticipated the theories of the American programists.
Giuseppe Basevi (?–1884) from Verona was a rabbi in Sabbioneta,
Spalato and Verona.
In the 18th century some of the Basevi family emigrated
to England. NATHAN or NAPHTALI (1738–1808), of Verona,
settled in London in 1762 and was an early president of the
*Board of Deputies of British Jews. His daughter, Maria, was
the mother of Benjamin *Disraeli. The conversion of the Disraeli
children in 1817 was followed by that of the family of
JOSHUA, Maria’s brother. A Lloyds underwriter, he moved to
Brighton, where he was chairman of the magistrates from 1838
to 1843 and also a deputy lieutenant of the County of Sussex.
Joshua’s son, NATHANIEL (1792–1869), was the first
Jewish-born barrister to practice in England. Another son,
GEORGE (1794–1845), an architect and a nephew of Maria
d’Israeli, and himself a convert to Christianity, was articled
to Sir John Soane, the most original British architect of his
time. In 1816–19 Basevi traveled in Italy and Greece and his
first buildings reveal the influences of classical architecture.
These include St. Mary’s Church, Greenwich, England, designed
in 1823, when Basevi was 29 years old. His best-known
building, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England, begun
in 1836, already reveals a trend to more dramatic, baroque
treatment which is fully evident in the famous building of the
Conservative Club (now the Bath Club) of 1843, in St. James’s
Street, London, designed with Sydney Smirke. Earlier in his
career Basevi designed several country houses and the main
part of Belgrave Square, the largest and most elegant of early
19th century London thoroughfares. Basevi died as a result of
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