Jewish Scholar First American to Receive French Award

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

Dr. David Simon Blondheim, professor of romance philology at the Johns Hopkins University, has received an award of 1,000 francs from the division of the French institute at Paris known as the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in recognition of his recently published book, “Les Parlers Judeo-Romans et la Vetus Latina.”

The award represents the recognition of American scholarship by one of the most distinguished societies in the world. The Hopkins philologist is the first American ever to receive a prize from the institution for work in the Romance languages.

“Les Parlers Judeo-Romans et La Vetus Latina” is a work based upon Dr. Blondheim’s knowledge of books, manuscripts and oral traditions in twenty-four languages and throws a great deal of light on the history of the Romance languages.

Dr. Blondheim shows that the Greek bible was translated into Latin by Jews in a way largely peculiar to themselves and that many of the Latin words used by them are found in the Vetus Latina, an older Christian translation in Latin on which the Vulgate is largely based. He concludes that it is very probably that the Vulgate and through it our English Bible were influenced extensively by these Jewish traditional translations.

The work is important, it is said, to students of the Bible and of the Romance languages.

Dr. Julius Rosenstirn, for many years one of the leading surgeons and cancer specialists of San Francisco, died in New York at the age of 76. Two sons and a daughter survive.

A native of Germany, Dr. Rosenstirn as a boy of 14 ran away to sea. Eventually he made his home in San Francisco. He founded Mount Zion Hospital there and was long affiliated with the Crocker Institute. He came to New York about six years ago.