GOLDBERG, BAER (Dov) BEN ALEXANDER

GOLDBERG, BAER (Dov ) BEN ALEXANDER (known by his acronym Bag ; 1800–1884), Polish scholar. Goldberg was born in Chlodna, near Lomza, Poland, and was orphaned at an early age. He studied Torah in dire poverty, but earned a reputation as a prodigy. Having tried his hand at business and teaching, in 1830 Goldberg became a private tutor for the family of the wealthy and learned Gershon Litinski in one of the villages of Suwalki district. When after some time the entire Litinski family converted to Christianity, he was slandered as having influenced them.

In 1843 he went to Berlin, where he was favorably received by the maskilim. However, lacking a formal education, he could not find employment there, and in 1847 went to England, where he managed with great difficulty to earn a living copying and publishing Hebrew manuscripts from the Oxford libraries. In 1853 he settled in Paris, earning his living there by copying and publishing Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts from the National Library. Altogether, Goldberg published 17 books and pamphlets and hundreds of articles in Hebrew periodicals, writing mainly under the name "Divrei Bag" ("Words of Bag") and "Gam Elleh Divrei Bag" ("These also are the words of Bag"). His writings exemplified all the virtues and weaknesses of one who is self-taught: diligence and an abundance of detail but written in ornate language and lacking organization.

Goldberg's main contribution to scholarship was the editing of such medieval works as Ḥefes Matmonim (1845), a collection of medieval texts; Isaac Israeli's Yesod Olam (1848); Ibn Janaḥ's Sefer ha-Rikmah in Judah ibn Tibbon's translation (1857); Iggeret Sherira Ga'on (1873); Risalat R. Judah b. Koraish (1867); and Abraham b. Moses b. Maimon's Birkat Avraham (1860, repr. 1960).

bibliography:

I.I. Goldbloom, in: Oẓar ha-Sifrut, 4 (1892), 542–51; B. Wachstein, Hebraeische Publizistik in Wien (1930), 71 (incl. bibl.); Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 412–3.