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tion of fables translated mostly from the French fable collection
Ysopet by Marie de France (c. 1170), and also from the
lost Latin translation of Aesop, Romulus, as well as from other
collections of Oriental origin. Berechiah writes in his preface:
“These fables are well-known to all mankind and are in books
by people of all languages, but my faith differs from theirs.”
The preface contains an appraisal in rhyming puns of the low
moral state of English Jewry as seen through Berechiah’s eyes:
“The wicked are saved, the righteous groan, the bitter are
sweetened, the evil rise, while the great are cast down, and
prayer is tasteless, glory is folly, and the sacrifice is wicked.”
He concludes, “I would prefer toil and a dry crust to sharing
my lot with them.” Mishlei Shu’alim has appeared in 18 editions,
most of them, including the first (Mantua 1557–59), being
incomplete. Berechiah has been identified with Krespia or
Crispia (Heb. והיפשירק ,היפשירק ,איפשרק) the grammarian, one
of whose fables (Fable 119) was included in Mishlei Shu’alim,
but this identification is unfounded. Berechiah’s son, Elijah,
who lived in “the city of Radom” (Darom, i.e., Dreux) was a
copyist and grammarian. In those of his texts which have survived
he expresses his feeling of honor at his father’s respected
position and refers to him as “the tanna and pedant.”
Bibliography: A.M. Habermann (ed.), Mishlei Shu’alim
(1946), complete edition, based on manuscripts; Davidson, Oẓar, 4
(1933), 373; W.I.H. Jackson, in: Fables of a Jewish Aesop (ed. M. Hadas,
1967); C. Roth, Jews of Medieval Oxford (1951), 118–9; idem, Intellectual
Activities of Medieval English Jewry (1949), 48–50; J. Jacobs, Jews
of Angevin England (1893); Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 958–62;
Porges, in: HB, 7 (1903), 36–44; Gross, Gal Jud, 180–5; Fuenn, Keneset,
202–3. Add. Bibliography: M.M. Epstein, in: Prooftexts 14,
3 (1994), 205-31.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
BERECHIAH BERAKH BEN ELIAKIM GETZEL (c. 1670–
1740), rabbi and author. Born in Cracow, Berechiah Berakh
served as a rabbi in Klementow and later as a preacher in Yaworow
(Yavorov). The leader of Polish Jewry, Abraham Isaac
*Fortis (Ḥazak), allowed him to preach in every place without
previously obtaining the permission of the local rabbi. His eloquent
sermons belong to the end of the period of the Council
of Four Lands. He spoke out against the low moral standards
prevailing in the upper strata of Polish Jewry in the first half
of the 18th century. He criticized rabbis who took gifts from
the parents of their pupils, judges who accepted remuneration
beyond that permitted by law, and preachers and communal
leaders who accepted gifts in return for their efforts. He also
criticized the practice of lending money at interest. His outspokenness
earned him many opponents. Isaac Eisik of Szydlowiec
withdrew an approbation he had given to Berechiah’s
book of responsa when he learned that the latter, whose
words were misinterpreted, prohibited a certain marriage
permitted by Solomon *Luria. As a result, the above-mentioned
book, together with four others on which Berechiah
had labored for more than 22 years, was forcibly taken from
him and he had to flee. Only a small part of his works (on the
beregi, ármin benjamin
Pentateuch, Psalms, Talmud, and Turim) survived, and was
published by Berechiah in two volumes, entitled Zera Berakh
as a supplement in two parts to the work of the same name in
two volumes by his grandfather *Berechiah Berakh b. Isaac
Eisik. The first consists of explanations and homilies to Genesis
(Halle, 1714), and the second of novellae to the tractate,
Berakhot (Frankfurt on the Oder, 1731). A commentary on the
Pentateuch, Zera Berakh, part 4 (mentioned ibid., part 3) has
remained in manuscript.
Bibliography: Michael, Or, 299, no. 647; H.N. Dembitzer,
Kelilat Yofi, 2 (1893), 50a–52b; Halpern, Pinkas, 477–9; A. Yaari,
Meḥkerei Sefer (1958), 445–9.
[Samuel Abba Horodezky]
BERECHIAH BERAKH BEN ISAAC EISIK (d. 1663),
called “the Elder” in differentiation from his grandson *Berechiah
Berakh b. Eliakim Getzel; rabbinical scholar, dayyan,
and preacher in Cracow; his father-in-law was Yom Tov Lipmann
*Heller. Berechiah studied under the kabbalist Nathan
Shapiro, and became a dayyan of the bet din of Joshua Hoeschel
of Cracow. He officiated as chief preacher to the community
in Cracow, belonging to a category of preachers held
in high esteem. His sermons were published under the title
Zera Berakh in two parts: the first (Cracow, 1646) includes
Berechiah’s exposition of Genesis, concluding with the portion
Masei, and the second (1662) completes the commentary
to the end of Deuteronomy and includes sermons on the Five
Scrolls and the Passover Haggadah. His commentaries are
not only representative of homiletics in 17th-century Poland-
Lithuania, but provide wide-ranging disquisitions on central
problems of Jewish society, such as the causes of the Chmielnicki
massacres in 1648–49. He also composed a special elegy,
entitled “El Male Raḥamim,” on the martyr’s death suffered
by *Mattathias in Cracow in 1663, which was introduced into
the Cracow liturgy. Berechiah died in Constantinople on his
way to Ereẓ Israel.
Bibliography: H.H. Ben-Sasson, Hagut ve-Hanhagah
(1959), index.
BEREGI, ÁRMIN BENJAMIN (1879–1953), Hungarian
Zionist. Born in Budapest, Beregi was a relative of Theodor
*Herzl and knew him from childhood. He graduated as an
engineer in 1901 and worked in factory construction in various
parts of Europe and later in Palestine. At Herzl’s request
he organized a Zionist student movement in Hungary. He
served as president of the Hungarian Zionist Organization
from 1911 to 1918. A Jewish defense force that he organized
in 1918 for protection against pogroms was authorized by the
Hungarian government. Beregi headed the Palestine Office
(see *Jewish Agency) in Budapest from 1925 to 1935, when he
settled in Palestine. The last years of his life were spent in Tel
Aviv as construction manager of a brick factory. In 1933 he
published a two volume novel about life in Palestine, entitled
Isten árnyékában (“In the Shadow of God”).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 407