AESCOLY (Weintraub), AARON ZEʾEV

AESCOLY (Weintraub), AARON ZE'EV (1901–1948), Hebrew writer, historian, and ethnologist. Aescoly studied in Berlin, Liège, and Paris, where for a short time he taught at the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes. In 1925 he immigrated to Palestine, although he did scholarly research in Paris from 1925 to 1930 and from 1937 to 1939. From 1939 he directed the I. Epstein Training College for kindergarten teachers which he had founded. During World War ii he served in the British Army and, as chaplain, in the Jewish Brigade. Aescoly's contributions to Jewish scholarship cover a wide field. In the introduction to his critical edition of Sippur David Reuveni ("Story of David Reuveni," 1940), and in a number of other studies, he dealt with messianic movements. His edition of Ḥayyim Vital's Sefer ha-Ḥezyonot (1954) and his Ha-Tenuot ha-Meshiḥiyyot be-Yisrael ("Messianic Movements in Israel," 1956) were both published posthumously. His ethnological writings include Geza ha-Adam ("The Human Race," 1956²), Yisrael (1953²), and a number of studies on the *Beta Israel (Sefer ha-Falashim, 1943; Ḥabash, 1936; Recueil de textes falashas, 1951). Aescoly's historical studies include Ha-Emanẓipazyah ha-Yehudit, Ha-Mahpekhah ha-Ẓarefatit u-Malkhut Napoleon ("Jewish Emancipation, the French Revolution and the Reign of Napoleon," 1952); a history of his native community of Lodz (1948); and an edition of S. Luzzatto's book on the Jews of Venice (published with D. Lattes' translation, 1951). On literature he wrote Ma'amar ha-Sifrut (1941) and translated writings of Lao-Tse (1937). He also edited S.D. Luzzatto's Yesodei ha-Torah (1947).

bibliography:

Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1956), 161.