FISCHER, CAROLUS°

FISCHER, CAROLUS ° (Karl ; 1755–1844), Christian Hebraist. Fischer was librarian of Prague University and served as government-appointed censor of Hebrew books and translator in Prague from 1788 (see *Censorship), the first layman to serve in this capacity. Fischer was on friendly terms with Eleazar *Fleckeles. His query about the validity of a Jew's oath to a gentile appears in Fleckeles' Teshuvah me-Ahavah (no. 26). He wrote notes to Moses *Landau's Aramaic-German dictionary and an introduction to Leopold *Dukes' German translation of Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch. In 1813 he submitted to the authorities a memorandum concerning the use of the term nokhri in talmudic literature; he left a summary of his opinions on Jewish problems based on his experiences in censorship (dated 1814). Fischer's Gutmeinung ueber den Talmud der Hebraeer (completed in 1802) was published by Emanuel *Baumgarten in 1883 as a contribution to the *Bloch-*Rohling controversy over the Talmud. Two manuscript volumes mainly containing Fischer's Hebrew correspondence with Eleazar Fleckeles, Bezalel *Ranschburg, and other scholars, as well as paragraphs he had deleted from books, are in the Prague University library. Fischer was in personal contact with members of the *Gesellschaft der jungen Hebraeer, and permitted Israel *Landau and Meir (Marcus) *Fischer to use the university library, closed until then to Jews.

bibliography:

G. Kisch, in: jggjČ, 2 (1930), 469–70; F. Roubík, ibid., 6 (1934), 292–5; 7 (1935), 305–16, 364–8; S.H. Lieben, in: mgwj, 62 (1918), 49–56; R. Kestenberg-Gladstein, Neuere Geschichteder Juden in den boehmischen Laendern (1969), index; idem, in: Judaica Bohemiae, 4 (1968), 68–70.