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áòùøééáåðâ...
ìåðõ, àáøäí îùä, 1854-1918
About the book:
The book before us is a translated and slightly abridged edition
of “Guidebook to Eretz Israel and Syria” by Abraham Moshe Luncz,
published in 1891 (1870 years since the diaspora) in Jerusalem,
and was printed and published by the author.
A. M. Luncz (1854-1918), was born in Kowna and settled
in Jerusalem in 1869. At the young age of 25 he became blind and
could not be cured in spite of many treatments he underwent in Europe.
In spite of this difficult limitation, Luncz was among the first
Jewish settlers of Eretz Israel who conducted research on Eretz
Israel and published articles and books about it on geographic,
historical, archaeological and demographic subjects. Luncz established
a Hebrew publishing house in Jerusalem, in partnership with an Austrian
Jewish publisher, and in it published several especially important
publications because they were based on primary sources, first hand
knowledge of daily life in Jerusalem and Eretz Israel, and on research
done on Eretz Israel by the most prominent researchers, such as
Conrad Schick, members of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and
others like them.
Luncz focused on four areas of publishing:
Information tables
on Eretz Israel that included geographic information, data on daily
life, prices, measurements, weights and so on, the foremost being
“Luakh Eretz Yisrael” (Palestine Annual).
Reprinted and
annotated editions of old research books, such as “Kaftor Vaferah”
by Estori Hafarhi from the 14th century and “Tevuot ha-Aretz” by
Yehosef Schwartz, one of the first Jewish researchers of Eretz Israel
from 1833
Periodicals –
among them “Yerushalayim”, which included articles and research
about Eretz Israel, and “HaMe’amer” which included research and
literary pieces
Guides and travel
books
The book before us belongs to the last category
of his works. In the transition from the original Hebrew version
of 1891, the information tables on Eretz Israel were omitted – “Useful
Facts and Warnings” - to quote the original, among them price lists,
market days, weights and measures, Arab customs and mail and telegraph
services. The author leads the reader on a journey between two regions
of Eretz Israel: the Judean coastal plain and mountains, and the
northern region. The route begins in Jaffa, passes through the villages
of Judea, and goes up to Jerusalem through Bab el-Wad and Motza.
The author devotes three days to the tour of the holy city, and
afterwards the reader is advised to go to Hebron and Nebi Samuel,
and from there the author suggests going down to the Dead Sea and
Jericho and back to Jerusalem. The second part of the journey describes
the way through the mountains toward the Galilee: Nablus and Mt.
Grizim, the Garden City (Jenin) and Beit She’an, and from there
to Tiberias, Zefat, the new Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee,
Acre and Haifa, and along the coast back to Jaffa. Each site is
described in detail and with citations from Hebrew sources, archeological
sites and graves of holy and righteous men are noted, as well as
many facts about the nature of the place and its geographic characteristics.
As early as 1876 Luncz published the first guide
for pilgrims called “Netivot Zion vi’Yerushalayim”, but in a different
style and less geared to modern tourism of those days. With the
appearance of travel guides to Eretz Israel such as Baedecker and
Mayers in the eighties and nineties of the 19th century, Luncz foresaw
that there would be a great demand for a travel guide for Jews,
and published a kind of “Baedecker” in Hebrew, and a few years later
also translated the book before us into Yiddish. To a great extent
there is much similarity to the brief and matter of fact style of
Baedecker, to his practical advice, and to his way of describing
places – while aiming at the Jewish tourist. His descriptions are
richly expressed and realistic, and his modern language is combined
with terms from ancient Hebrew sources. The Yiddish guide was published
in another edition in 1907, but the Hebrew one remains in its original
form.
Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi
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