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aeck, samuel
19:2 (1999), 107–17; W. Homolka (ed.), Leo Baeck – Zwischen Geheimnis
und Gebot (1997); A. Barkai (ed.), Leo Baeck – Manhigut
ve-Hagut (2000).
[Akiba Ernst Simon / Yehoyada Amir (2nd ed.)]
BAECK, SAMUEL (1834–1912), German rabbi and scholar.
Baeck, who was born in Kromau (Moravia), the son and
grandson of rabbis, served as rabbi of Leipa (Bohemia) and
Lissa (Lezno, Poland) and was active in German-Jewish communal
affairs. He successfully advocated the teaching of Jewish
religion in Prussian high schools, for which he wrote some
textbooks. His Geschichte des juedischen Volkes und seiner
Literatur… (1888) went into three editions. To J. Winter and
A. Wuensche (eds.) Die juedische Literatur (1894–96) Baeck
contributed the sections on the halakhic, homiletic, and other
literature from the 15th to the 18th centuries (also separately
printed, 1893). Leo *Baeck was his son.
BAENA, JUAN ALFONSO DE (c. 1445), Spanish poet and
scribe to Juan II of Castile. Most probably he was born a Jew
and decided to convert. His conversion to Christianity enabled
him to enter the court of Juan II and become one of his
high officials. The Cancionero de Baena, an anthology of 14thand
15th-century poetry which he compiled and presented to
the king in 1445 deals with the social and political life of the
period and includes many references to Jews and conversos.
Hostility toward the conversos is expressed in several poems
by Alfonso Alvarez de Villasandino (nos. 140–2, 183). Two
decires, or poetic compositions, of the monk Diego de Valencia
(probably a converted Jew himself) deal with conversos;
the text of the first (no. 501) contains a number of Hebrew
words. The Cancionero also includes poems celebrating the
birth in 1405 of the future King Juan II. One of these (no.
230), the composition of a certain Don Mossé (described as
surgeon to Henry III), indicates the part played by the Jews in
Spanish cultural life. Baena’s poetry is very rich and harmonious
in its rhymes. Another Juan de Baena (also known as
Juan de Pineda) rose from obscurity as a tailor in Córdoba to
eminence at the court of Toledo. A converso, he was brought
to trial and condemned to death in 1486.
Bibliography: J.M. Azaceta (ed.), Cancionero de Juan de
Baena (1966); A. Millares Carlo, Literatura española hasta fines del
siglo XV (1950), 185–91; J. Amador de los Ríos, Estudios… Judíos de
España (1848), 406–27; Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 347ff. Add. Bibliography:
B. Valverde, in: Cuadernos del idioma 9 (1968), 97–113; B.
Blanco González, in: Cuadernos de filología (Mendoza, Argentina), 6
(1972), 29–75; J.M. Solá-Solé, in: Sobre árabes, judíos y marranos y su
impacto en la lengua y literatura españolas (1983), 207–23.
[Kenneth R. Scholberg]
BAER, ABRAHAM (1834–1894), cantor. Baer was born in
Wielen (Filehne), Poznan (Poland). He was a teacher and
ḥazzan in various towns in western Prussia and in Posen, before
becoming assistant cantor in Goteborg, Sweden, in 1857
and chief cantor in 1860. Collaborating with the organist of
the synagogue, Joseph Czapek, he published a two-volume
collection of hymns (principally those of *Sulzer) for choir,
with organ accompaniment, Musik till sångerna vid Gudstjensten
(2 vols., 1872). Five years later came his great work Baal
T’fillah, a collection of melodies and recitatives according to
the Polish, German, and Sephardi rituals, which became the
basic manual for European cantors. The fruit of 15 years’ work,
it contains about 1,500 melodies which cover the liturgy of the
year. Among them are several melodies of Sulzer, *Naumburg,
and *Lewandowski, and some of his own. The collection went
through five editions between 1877 and 1930.
Bibliography: A. Baer, Baal T’fillah oder der praktische
Vorbeter (18832), xiii–xxviii; J. Schoenberg, Die traditionellen Gesaenge
des israelitischen Gottesdienstes in Deutschland (1926); Sendrey,
Music, indexes.
[Haim Bar-Dayan]
BAER, GABRIEL (1919–1982), historian. Born in Germany,
Baer immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1933. His special field was
the social history of the Middle East, particularly of Egypt, in
modern times. A professor of Oriental Studies at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, he was awarded the Israel Prize in
1976. His books include A History of Landownership in Modern
Egypt 1800–1950 (1962), Egyptian Guilds in Modern Times
(1964), Population and Society in the Arab East (1964), Studies
in the Social History of Modern Egypt (1969), and Fellah
and Townsman in the Middle East: Studies in Social History
(1982). Baer was also editor of two Middle Eastern quarterlies
published in Jerusalem: Hamizrah Hehadash and Asian
and African Studies.
Add. Bibliography: A list of Baer’s published works appeared
in Asian and African Studies, 17 (1983), 315–21. Obituaries:
G.G. Gilbar, in: IJMES, 15, no. 1 (1983), 129–30; J.M. Landau, in: Der
Islam, 41, no. 1 (1984), 8–9.
[Jacob M. Landau (2nd ed.)]
BAER, MAX (Maximilian Adelbert; 1909–1959), U.S. prizefighter,
world heavyweight champion 1934–35, member of
the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing
Hall of Fame. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Baer dropped
out of school in the eighth grade to work with his father on
a cattle ranch in California, where he developed his muscles
and a powerful right hand. He began to box in 1929 and won
22 of his first 24 fights, nine with first-round knockouts. In
a fight on August 25, 1930, heavyweight Frankie Campbell
was killed in a fight with Baer in San Francisco, which led to
a grand jury investigation of local boxing. Baer was charged
with manslaughter but was later cleared of all charges, though
he was suspended from fighting in California for a year. He
quit boxing for several months after Campbell’s death and
then lost four of his next six fights, partly, it was said, because
of his reluctance to go on the attack.
Baer recorded a major victory on June 8, 1933, when he
beat Germany’s Max Schmeling, a former world champion,
with a 10th-round TKO in front of 56,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.
Baer won the heavyweight title on June 14, 1934, knocking
down Italy’s Primo Carnera 11 times in 11 rounds, before
52 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3