Max Emanuel Stern

Max Emanuel Stern, also known as Mendel b'ri Stern, was a Hungarian-born Hebraist, writer, poet, and translator.

Biography

Born to Jewish parents in Presburg in 1811, Stern first studied under his father Isak, who was a teacher at the local Jewish primary school. When his father became blind, Max, then only fourteen years of age, took charge of his classes, devoting his nights to further study and to writing his Dichtungen, his Maslul, and his Perlenblumen, the latter being metrical translations of the Proverbs. His poems first appeared in print in 1827. Stern held the teaching position for nine years, resigning upon his father's death in late 1832.
The following year he accepted the position of literary advisor and proofreader for Anton [Edler von Schmid]'s printing press at Vienna. He was appointed principal of the Hebrew-German school at Eisenstadt in 1835, where he wrote his epic Tif'ereth ha-Tishbi, a biography of the prophet Elijah in two parts. In 1838, after having taught for half a year at Triesch, he returned to Vienna, where he prepared his epic for the press, publishing it under the pseudonym of "M. I. Ernst". He meanwhile became known to wider circles through translations of List of [Jewish prayers and blessings|prayers] and philosophical writings.
Stern began in 1845 to publish his Hebrew periodical , which included poetry, prose, scholarly articles, and translations, and was twice subsidized by the Imperial Academy of Science at Vienna. Later he received from the Emperor of Austria the and the Order of [Franz Joseph], and was made an honorary member of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft.
In the last years of his life, he made his living from the production of Hebrew funerary writings and occasional poems.