ALEXANDER SUuml;SSKIND BEN SAMUEL ZANWIL:

By: Joseph Loeb Sossnitz

A grammarian and cabalist; born at Metz about the end of the seventeenth century. In 1717-18 he published at Köthen (Anhalt, Germany) a work on Hebrew grammar, entitled "Derek ha-ḳodesh" (The Sacred Way); appended to it is a Judæo-German essay on the Hebrew accents. In manuscript No. 90 of the Leyden collection three works are found of an Alexander ben Samuel, whom Steinschneider identifies with this Alexander Süsskind. They are: (1) "Yedi'at Elohim" (Knowledge of God), on the existence of God, immortality, etc.; (2) "Meleket ha-Mibṭa." a work on Hebrew grammar; (3) "Ẓori ha-Yehudim," or "Theriaca Judaica," a Hebrew translation of a German work by Solomon Uffenhausen. In 1758 he lived at Leyden, where he wrote for Prof. Philip Puseal a treatise on the Cabala under the title "Reshit Ḥokmah" (The Beginning of Wisdom), which is still extant in manuscript at Frankfort-on-the-Oder.

J. L. S.