JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Bibliography: Zunz, Gesch, 230–48; M. Steinschneider,
Vorlesungen ueber die Kunde hebraeischer Handschriften (1897), ch.
3; A. Marx, Studies In Jewish History and Booklore (1944), 198–237;
Shunami, Bibl, 38–76, 788–9; C. Roth, in: JBA, 25 (1967/68), 75–80;
S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Mantovah; 2 (1964),
495–8; KS, 41 (1967), suppl., index to vols. 1–40; Allony, ibid., 43
(1967/68), 121–39; Szulvas, in: Talpioth, 4 (1949), 600–2; Padover, in:
J.W. Thompson (ed.), The Medieval Library (1939), 338–46; Sonne, in:
SBB, 1 (1953–54), 55–76; 2 (1955), 3–19, 156–9.
[Menahem Schmelzer]
BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, French national library
founded in the 14th century. There was no trace of Hebrew
books there before 1544; however, by 1739 there were 516 manuscripts
mainly from the collections of Catherine de’ Medici,
Cardinal Richelieu, and Gilbert Gaulmin. The catalogue of
works printed in Hebrew and prepared by Nicolas Rigault
remains unedited. The reforms brought about by the French
Revolution resulted in several important collections being
transferred to the National Library. These consisted of books
and manuscripts from convents and from the Sorbonne library.
Through the efforts of Solomon *Munk still further
acquisitions were added. A description published in 1866 by
Herman Zotenberg (Catalogue des Manuscrits Hébreux et
Samaritains de la Bibliothèque Impériale, based on the preliminary
work by Solomon Munk, Joseph *Dernbourg, and
Adolphe *Franck), numbers 1,313 works in Hebrew and 11 in
Samaritan. In the early 21st century there were a total of 1,481
manuscripts, including some discovered at Qumran, and 61
Samaritan manuscripts. Recent acquisitions were registered
in the Catalogue général des livres imprimés and in Ouvrages
imprimés en caractères hébraïques.
Bibliography: Schwab, in: REJ, 36 (1898), 112–4; 37 (1898),
127–36; 61 (1911), 82–87; 121 (1962), 194–209; M. Schwab (ed.), 64
(1912), 153–6, 280–1; 66 (1913), 290–6; I. Adler, ibid., Manuscrits hébreux
de l’Oratoire (1911); I. Adler, Incunables hébraïques de la Bibliothèque
Nationale (1962).
[Georges Vajda]
BICK, JACOB SAMUEL (1772–1831), Hebrew writer and one
of the pioneers of *Haskalah in Galicia. Bick, a friend of Solomon
Judah *Rapoport, translated French and English poems
into Hebrew and published delightful, satirical letters in Bikkurei
ha-Ittim, Kerem Ḥemed, and in the anthology Ha-Ẓefirah,
edited by *Letteris. Bick, like other Galician maskilim of his
day, began by scoffing at the boorish Ḥasidim, but his strong
attachment to the common people and his love of tradition led
to a change in his views. When Tobias *Feder published his
pamphlet Kol Meḥaẓeẓim (1816), criticizing Menahem *Lefin
(Levin Mendel of Satanov) for having translated the Book of
Proverbs into Yiddish, Bick defended Lefin and argued that
one should be pleased that the book had been made accessible
to the people in a language that they understood. Most of
Bick’s literary works were destroyed by fire. However, shortly
before World War II, Dov Sadan discovered the manuscripts
of three anti-ḥasidic Hebrew plays written by Bick in the Jo-
bickel, alexander M.
seph Perl library in Tarnopol. These plays probably belong to
Bick’s early period.
Bibliography: S. Werses, in: YIVO Bleter, 13 (1938), 505–36;
G. Bader, Medinah va-Ḥakhameha (1934), 36–7; D. Sadan, Mazkeret
Levi (1953), 96–108.
[Gedalyah Elkoshi]
BICKEL, ALEXANDER M. (1924–1974), U.S. lawyer
and a leading authority on the United States Constitution.
Son of Solomon *Bickel (1896–1969), Yiddish essayist and
literary critic, Bickel was born in Bucharest, Romania, but
immigrated to the United States at the age of 14. After graduating
from the City College of New York and from Harvard
Law School, he became a law officer in the State Department,
and subsequently served as clerk to Justice Felix *Frankfurter.
He joined the faculty of Yale Law School in 1956, and
from 1966 until his death he held distinguished chairs at this
institution. He was the author of a number of widely read
books on the Supreme Court and on constitutional law: The
Least Dangerous Branch (1962), Politics and the Warren Court
(1965), The Supreme Court and the Idea of Progress (1970),
and Reform and Continuity (1971). Bickel became nationally
known when he represented the New York Times in the
famous Pentagon Papers case before the Supreme Court in
1971.
In constitutional and legal philosophy, Bickel was a conservative,
not a liberal-activist. In his basic orientation, he
was a follower of Justice Frankfurter, who stressed the belief
that the ultimate reliance for the vindication of interests
and rights must be, not on the courts, but on other agencies
of the democratic process. From this point of view, Bickel
found many occasions to criticize various decisions of the
Supreme Court during the years when Earl Warren was
chief justice. His style was often sharply polemical and even
strident. But like Frankfurter, Bickel was a liberal in his own
political views. Thus, for example, though opposed to any
form of racism, he opposed the use of bussing to help achieve
school desegregation. His philosophy may perhaps best be
associated with that of the Historical School of jurisprudence.
In The Supreme Court and the Idea of Progress (1970),
Bickel wrote that in dealing with problems of great magnitude
and with complex roots and unpredictable offshoots, society
is best allowed to develop its own strands out of its own traditions;
“it moves forward most effectively, perhaps, in empirical
fashion, deploying its full tradition, in all its contradictions,…
as it retreats and advances, shifts and responds in
accordance with experience, and with pressures brought to
bear by the political process.” In such contexts, he concluded,
judicial supremacy is not possible. Bickel’s book The Morality
of Consent (1975) was published posthumously. He also wrote
the first part of History of the Supreme Court of the United
States: The Judiciary and Responsible Government: 1910–1921
(vol. IX, 1984).
[Milton Ridvas Konvitz)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 685