Proctocure at 05:13, 28 May 2025

2025-05-28T05:13:17Z

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{{Short description|Jewish Indian writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar
| image = יוסף יחזקאל ראג'פורקר.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| birth_date = {{birth year|1834}}
| birth_place = [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[Company rule in India|British India]]
| death_date = {{death year and age|1905|1834}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| burial_place =
| parents =
| father =
| mother =
| spouse =
| children =
| occupation =
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}}

'''Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar''' ({{Langx|mr|जोसेफ यहेज्केल राजपूरकर}}, {{Langx|he|יוסף יחזקאל ראג׳פורכר}}; 1834–1905) was a [[Bene Israel]] writer and translator of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[Jewish prayer|liturgical works]] into [[Marathi language|Marathi]].

==Biography==
Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar was born to a prominent [[Bene Israel]] family in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] in 1834.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Sarah|last=Solomon|title=Life of Mr. Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar, J.P.|journal=Israelite|volume=9|date=July 1925|pages=97–99}}</ref> His father, Ezekiel Joseph Rajpurkar, was a teacher and superintendent of Scottish [[mission school]]s.<ref name=numark>{{cite journal|last=Numark|first=Mitch|date=2012|title=Hebrew School in Nineteenth-Century Bombay: Protestant Missionaries, Cochin Jews, and the Hebraization of India's Bene Israel Community|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=46|number=6|pages=1764–1808|doi=10.1017/s0026749x12000121|s2cid=145778917|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/hebrew-school-in-nineteenthcentury-bombay-protestant-missionaries-cochin-jews-and-the-hebraization-of-indias-bene-israel-community/6DA611C9F4BD0C6DC168433416515877|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Rajpurkar was educated in the school of the [[Wilson College, Mumbai|Free General Assembly]] by [[John Wilson (Scottish missionary)|John Wilson]], where he studied [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[English language|English]], and other subjects. He became an assistant teacher at the David Sassoon Benevolent Institution—a school for [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi Jewish]] children—in 1856. He was appointed [[Head teacher|headmaster]] five years later, a position he kept for forty years.<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Ezekiel, Joseph|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5957-ezekiel-joseph|first1=Joseph|last1=Jacobs|first2=Edgar|last2=Mels|volume=5|page=319|no-prescript=1}}</ref> In 1871 Rajpurkar was appointed examiner in Hebrew at the [[University of Mumbai|University of Bombay]], and in 1879 was made a [[fellow]] of the university. He became [[justice of the peace]] in 1890.

Rajpurkar translated over twenty works of the [[Jewish prayer|Hebrew liturgy]] and many English works of Jewish interest into [[Marathi language|Marathi]], and authored expositions on [[rabbinic literature]] and [[Jewish history]]. His translations include the ''[[siddur]]'', ''[[Machzor|maḥzor]]'', ''[[piyyut]]im'', and ''[[Selichot|seliḥot]]'', among others.<ref>{{cite book|first=James Fuller|last=Blumhardt|title=Catalogue of Marathi and Gujarati Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum|url=https://archive.org/details/cataloguemarath01blumgoog|year=1892|location=London|publisher=B. Quaritch|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cataloguemarath01blumgoog/page/n122 207]}}</ref> In 1876 he published ''Israelache Dharmamattavishaye Shastrateel Pramane'', a defence of Judaism's legitimacy, in an effort to avert Bene Israel from [[Conversion to Christianity|converting to Christianity]]. He also published ''Kuttonet Yosef'', a handbook of [[Hebrew abbreviations]], a Hebrew [[Reference work|grammar]] in Marathi, and a Hebrew [[Primer (textbook)|primer]] for children.<ref>{{cite web|title=Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar|website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]|publisher=[[American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise|AICE]]|access-date=4 April 2019|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rajpurkar-joseph-ezekiel}}</ref>

Aside from his work as teacher, translator, and commentator, Rajpurkar worked unceasingly for the good of the Jews in Bombay. He spearheaded Bombay Jewry's response to the [[blood libel]] charge that appeared in 1882 in the ''Bombay Cassid'', a [[Gujarati language|Gujarati-language]] [[Islam|Muslim]] periodical, and for many years served as Senior Warden of the [[Gate of Mercy Synagogue|Shaar ha-Raḥamim Synagogue]] and Secretary to the ''Israel Lokancha Sudronshodak Mandali'' (Bene Israel Improvement Society).{{r|numark}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar}}
* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Rajpurkar%2C+Joseph+Ezekiel%22 Works of Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar] at the [[Internet Archive]]

==References==
{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Ezekiel, Joseph|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5957-ezekiel-joseph|first1=Joseph|last1=Jacobs|first2=Edgar|last2=Mels|volume=5|page=319}}
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajpurkar, Joseph Ezekiel}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian Jews]]
[[Category:Bene Israel]]
[[Category:Indian justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Indian schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Jewish religious writers]]
[[Category:Jewish translators]]
[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:Heads of schools in India]]
[[Category:Translators from Hebrew]]
[[Category:Translators to Marathi]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian translators]]

Joseph Ezekiel Rajpurkar - Revision history

Proctocure at 05:13, 28 May 2025