Seligman Baer
Few scholars in the nineteenth century had so intimate an acquaintance with all the details of the Masorah as had Baer, and it was largely due to him that the study of this branch of Hebrew philology was brought to the notice of Biblical critics.
In recognition of his services to the Commission for the History of the Jews in Germany, the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy was conferred upon him by the University of Leipzig.
In the meantime, Baer had conceived the plan of editing anew the books of the entire Hebrew Bible, strictly following the Masoretic tradition.
The volumes, with a Latin preface by Delitzsch, appeared (Leipzig, Tauchnitz) in the following order: Genesis, 1869; Isaiah, 1872; Job, 1875; Minor Prophets, 1878; Psalms (together with a treatise "Elementa Accentuationis Metricæ"), 1880; Proverbs (together with "De Primorum Vocabulorum Dagessatione"), 1880; Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah (together with "Chaldaismi Biblici Adumbratio" and a treatise by Friedrich Delitzsch on the Babylonian proper names in these books), were published in 1882; Ezekiel (with "Specimen Glossarii Ezechielico-Babylonici" by Friedrich Delitzsch), appeared in 1884; followed by the five Megillot, 1886; the book of Chronicles, 1888; Jeremiah, 1890; Joshua and Judges, 1891; and finally Kings, 1895.
Further, the Aramaic paradigms attached to the edition of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah have also been the subject of criticism on the part of Kautzsch ("Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen," p. 23).
Of Baer's separate treatises dealing with the mesorah may be mentioned: For his edition of Aaron ben Moses ben Asher's Diḳduḳe ha-Te'amim, Baer made a complete handwritten copy of the Masoretic treatises and lists in the Aleppo codex in their entirety, as found in the pages that preceded and followed the biblical text.
Since the Masoretic treatises of the Aleppo codex are now missing, Baer's personal copy allows for a nearly complete reconstruction of the lost material.
His Seder Avodat Yisrael ("Ritual of Israel's Service"; Rödelheim, 1868), is accompanied by a literary and philological commentary called Yakhin Lashon ("Preparatory Study of Language"), which has made the work a standard authority and a model for subsequent Ashkenazic prayerbooks throughout the 20th century and to the present day.
