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29-520: The memor-book was originally called either sefer zikkaron ('Book of Remembrance') or sefer ha-zikhronot ('Book of Commemorations'). The later title, sefer hazkarat neshamot ('Memorial Book of Souls'), was soon superseded by the general name Memorbuch , derived from the Latin "memoria". The names pinḳes ('book,' from the Greek πίναξ ), Selbuch, and Totenbuch occur but seldom. The word "memor-book"

58-503: A new synagogue on 15 November 1296. It was then taken to Mayence, where it was stolen and sold. Subsequently it was acquired by Carmoly, after whose death the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft of Mayence obtained possession of it. It consists of three parts: The first necrology, which was probably-preceded by forty-four pages containing a history of the persecutions or a cycle of elegies, is prefaced by

87-509: A prayer on the announcement of the New Moon ; a benediction for the members of the community who undertake to keep the fast-day called Sheni ve-Ḥamishi ve-Sheni ; a benediction for the benefactors and persons attending the synagogue; a prayer for the sick; and the Av ha-Raḥamim , a prayer for the martyrs of Israel. This is followed by a poem referring to the book, the building, and the dedication of

116-544: A speaker depended not just on the strength of his prepared arguments, but on the audience's perceptions of the speaker. In Greece, Rome, and Renaissance Europe, a speaker's familiarity of many areas of learning was seen as a virtue. When the Humanists took up the ideas on memory found the writings of Classical authors, memoria played an important role in the pedagogical system. Texts were learned first by rote memorization, then re-read for meaning. Children's ability to memorize

145-568: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . memoria#Latin Memoria was the term for aspects involving memory in Western classical rhetoric . The word is Latin, and can be translated as "memory". It was one of five canons in classical rhetoric (the others being inventio , dispositio , elocutio , and pronuntiatio ) concerned with the crafting and delivery of speeches and prose. The art of rhetoric grew out of oratory , which

174-475: Is derived from the Latin " memoria ". After it had become customary to remember scholars, martyrs, benefactors, and others in prayers on the Sabbath and on feast-days, the names of the dead were entered in special books, with the formulas for the hazkarah or the hashkavah , generally beginning with the words: "Yizkor Elohim nishmat ..." ('May God remember the soul of ...'). These books contained, in addition to

203-530: Is introduced by a summary of the persecutions of 1096 to 1298, the names of the martyrs between 1096 and 1349, a list of cities and villages in which persecutions took place under Rindfleisch (1298) and Armleder (1336–39), and at the time of the Black Death (1348–49). The second necrology is introduced by the ritual for the New Moon and a prayer for the members of the community ( Misheberak , almost in

232-406: Is much more acceptable for politicians and for people of authority to use aids when delivering addresses. Although it could be viewed as an aid to use notes or teleprompters, greater importance is placed on actually conveying the information to the audience in a clear and concise manner. For ancient orators, the excellence of how a speech was presented was more important than the simple delivery of

261-402: Is that of the community of Nuremberg , though it likely had predecessors which served as models for it. It was formerly designated by the misleading term "Memor-Book of Mayence ," on the authority of Carmoly , Grätz , Neubauer , and others. The book was begun in 1296 by a skilful scribe, Isaac ben Samuel of Meiningen, as a gift to be presented to the community of Nuremberg at the dedication of

290-403: Is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves." Any Greek in ancient times who was caught using the note-taking method would be laughed at and deemed "weak-minded". Nowadays, it is much more common for speakers to use note cards, though speeches are much more impressive without the use of notes. Using memory during a speech can also affect how the orator influences

319-539: The Jewish Encyclopedia he had envisioned. Over the course of his career, Singer also proposed many projects which never won backing, including a multi-million-dollar loan to aid the Jews of Eastern Europe, a Jewish university open to students of any background, various encyclopedias about secular topics, and a 25-volume publication series of Hebrew classics. By 1911, the date of this latter proposal, "neither

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348-560: The French ambassador in Vienna . From 1887, he worked in Paris in the press bureau of the French foreign office and was active in the campaign on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus . In 1893 he founded a short-lived biweekly called La Vraie Parole as a foil to the anti-Jewish La Libre Parole . Singer moved to New York City in 1895 where he learned English and taught French, raising the money for

377-613: The World Wide Web, and other artificial memory devices (Crowley and Hawhee 325–28). Centuries ago, ancient orators had to memorize and present speeches without the help of note cards or crib sheets. Notetaking, as a way to remember certain things, was looked down upon in ancient cultures. In his Phaedrus , Plato has Socrates explaining that relying on writing or taking notes weakened the mind and memory: "If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls: they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which

406-554: The [Jewish] Publication Society nor any body of respectable scholars would work with him," according to encyclopedist Cyrus Adler . Singer held extremely liberal views which at times proved unpopular. He endorsed Jesus and the Christian New Testament and proposed a Hebrew translation. He founded the Amos Society to promote understanding among followers of monotheistic religions. His 1897 prospectus for

435-429: The audience. When the speaker addresses the audiences relying solely on their memory, they build a certain amount of ethos within the relationship. Memoria in relation to ethos during a speech situation can be described as a certain amount trustworthiness felt between the audience, as well as a level of similarity, authority, or expertise that the orator has over the audience. Unlike ancient Greece, in today's society, it

464-512: The community with especial faithfulness or who gave or bequeathed gifts to its institutions. These memorials to the dead, which were intended to serve as inspirations to the living, were read wholly or in part at the memorial services . The so-called memmern —the reading of the lists of martyrs and of places of martyrdom—was heard in the synagogue on the Sabbath before Tisha B'Av and on the Sabbath before Shavuot . The earliest known memor-book

493-423: The custom of accumulating commonplaces. Hence, for a rhetor, memory is as much related to the need to extemporize as to the necessity to memorize a discourse for delivery; in this way it is linked to kairos and to the ideas of copia and amplification (Burton). Crowley and Hawhee state about memory and kairos, "... kairos and memory were partnered in several ways. First, both require a kind of 'attunement' in that

522-626: The encyclopedia project called for harmony between religions; called the Sabbath and holidays "heavy burdens, or, at best, mere ceremonies" for most Jews; and made the radical suggestion that Jewish parents, if honest with their children, would tell them: Our religion ... does not accord with your ideas. We have neither the power nor the desire to impose it on you. Make your peace with your God and your conscience as best you can," and, that said, let us cease to erect new synagogues, let us close our seminaries of theology, and let us disintegrate, little by little, our ancient communal institutions. Due to

551-527: The general part—the introductory prayers and the names of the noble and beneficent—a simple list of the dead, with notes on their works and the sums spent for the repose of their souls. A list of localities and countries where persecutions had taken place either preceded the necrologies or was added to them. Memor-books are devoted primarily to the learned and influential, although others may be included for special reasons, particularly Jews distinguished for their noble character, or who performed their duties toward

580-411: The orator also had to have at his command a wide body of knowledge to permit improvisation, to respond to questions, and to refute opposing arguments. Where today's speech-making tends to be a staged, one-way affair, in former times, much oration occurred as part of debates, dialogues, and other settings, in which orators had to react to others. Moreover, rhetoricians also recognized that the credibility of

609-462: The present form), to which are added the same lists and other material as in the first necrology. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Jacobs, Joseph; Salfeld, Siegmund (1904). "Memor-Book (German, 'Memorbuch')" . In Singer, Isidore ; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . Vol. 8. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 456–458. This Judaism -related article

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638-652: The rhetor who is gathering items for reserve in the memory must be thinking simultaneously about what's available now that might be useful later. Secondly, memory requires an attunement during the moment of speaking or composing, a recognition of the right time for recalling an illustrative example, an argument, and so on" (317). Ancient peoples used elaborate systems , such as the method of loci , to store large amounts of information in their memories. Today, we use literate and electronic memory systems. Literate memory systems include books, periodicals, and libraries. Electronic systems include computers, databases, computer software,

667-513: The speech. An important feature of delivering a speech was finding ways to make one's audience remember one's speech topic. One had to be sure to one's audience learned the information or ideas presented to it. The third element of memory has to do with using quotes, facts, or anecdotes that could be used in future speeches. A professional orator is known to always have a treasury of rhetorical fodder close at all times. Isidore Singer Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939)

696-411: The structure of discourse to some extent. For example, as part of dispositio , some attention was paid to creating structures (such as the divisio , an outline of the major arguments of a discourse) that would also aid memory. Some writers also discussed the use of various mnemonic devices to assist speakers. But rhetoricians also viewed memoria as requiring more than just rote memorization. Rather,

725-581: The synagogue, and closing with the words: "The names of the donors have been entered in the Book of the Beloved, who sleep in the grave." Then come the prayers, found in nearly all the memor-books, for the souls of the spiritual heroes of Israel and of individual benefactors, and the prayers for the dead ( yizkor ), in Hebrew and Old French , for the individual martyrs and the persecuted communities. The martyrology

754-512: Was aided by " memory tables ", which were first available in manuscript form, and were, from the 1470s onwards, some of the first products of the printing press. (Source: Paul Gehl, A Moral Art: Grammar, Society, and Culture in Trecento Florence (1993).) Memory, the fourth canon of rhetoric, and invention, the first canon, are connected. The ad Herennium states that memory is the "treasury of things invented", indirectly referring to

783-899: Was an American encyclopedist and editor of The Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Singer was born in 1859 in Weisskirchen , Moravia , in the Austrian Empire . He studied at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin , receiving his Ph.D. in 1884. After editing the Allgemeine oesterreichische Literaturzeitung (Austrian literary newspaper) from 1885 to 1886, he became literary secretary to

812-442: Was still the medium for critical debate. Unlike public speakers of today, who use notes or who read their speeches, good orators were expected to deliver their speeches without such aids. Memoria was the discipline of recalling the arguments of a discourse. It generally received less attention from writers than other parts of rhetoric, as there is less to be said about the subject. However, the need to memorize speeches did influence

841-432: Was the central medium for intellectual and political life in ancient Greece. Legal proceedings, political debates, philosophical inquiry were all conducted through spoken discourse. Many of the great texts from that age were not written texts penned by the authors we associate them with, but were instead orations written down by followers and students. In Roman times, while there was a much greater body of written work, oration

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