Isaac Nordheimer

Isaac Nordheimer (born in Memmelsdorf, Germany, in 1809; died in New York City, 3 November 1842) was a Hebrew scholar and educator who worked in the United States.

Biography

After receiving a thorough education preparatory to become a rabbi, he entered the gymnasium of Würzburg in 1828, transferred to the University of Würzburg in 1830, and completed his studies at the University of Munich, where he obtained the degree of PhD in 1834.

To secure a wider field, Nordheimer emigrated to New York in 1835. He held the professorship of Hebrew and cognate languages at the University of the City of New York in 1836-1842, and received the appointment of instructor in sacred literature at Union Theological Seminary, where he remained from 1838 until 1842. He enjoyed the friendship of notable biblical scholars of his time, and many of his pupils later occupied posts of eminence.

Literary works

Among his contributions to the Biblical Repository, “The Philosophy of Ecclesiastes” (July 1838) was particularly notable. In 1838 he published the first volume of his elaborate Hebrew grammar, and in 1841 the second volume (2d ed., with additions and improvements, 2 vols., New York, 1842). Another work was A Grammatical Analysis of Select Portions of Scripture, or a Chrestomathy (New York, 1838). Nordheimer left several works in manuscript; a Chaldee and Syriac grammar and an Arabic grammar in German; a larger Arabic grammar in English; a Hebrew concordance, incomplete; Ecclesiastes translated and explained, in German; and a mass of philological notes.

Notes

References

•  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Nordheimer, Isaac". Encyclopedia Americana. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Nordheimer, Isaac". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.