David ben Naphtali Fränkel

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David ben Naphtali(-Hirsch) Fränkel, or David Hirschel Fränkel (c. 1704 – April 4, 1762) was a German Jewish rabbi.

Born in Berlin, for a time he was rabbi of Dessau. He became chief rabbi of Berlin in 1742. Fränkel exercised a great influence as teacher over Moses Mendelssohn, who followed him to the Prussian capital. It was Fränkel who introduced Mendelssohn to Maimonides' Moreh Nebukim, and it was he, too, who befriended his poor disciple, procuring for him free lodging and a few days' board every week in the house of Hayyim Bamberger.

As a Talmudist Fränkel was almost the first to devote himself to a study of the Jerusalem Talmud, which had been largely neglected. He gave a great impetus to the study of this work by his korban ha-'Edah, a commentary in three parts (part 1, on the order Mo'ed, Dessau, 1743; part 2, on Nashim, Berlin, 1757; part 3, on Nezikin, ib. 1760). His additional notes on the Jerusalem Talmud and on Maimonides were published, together with the preceding work, under the title Shiyyure korban, Dessau, 1743.

[edit] Bibliography

• Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. 94;
• E. Carmoly, Notices Biographiques, in Revue Orientale, iii. 315;
• Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 882;
• G. Karpeles, Gesch. der Jüdischen Litteratur, pp. 1060, 1071, 1100;
• J. H. Dessauer, Gesch. der Israeliten, p. 498;
• Graetz, Hist. v. 293-294;
• Landshuth, Toledot Anshe ha-Shem, pp. 35 et seq., Berlin, 1884;
• Kayserling, Moses Mendelssohn, pp. 9 et seq., Leipzig, 1862

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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By : Solomon Schechter, A. Rhine