Wikipedia's first sentence called it “meshulach and traveler of rumanian descent”. Today it says “a 19th-century writer”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Jacob Saphir (1822–1886) ( ) was a Meshulach and traveler of Romanian Jewish descent, born in Ashmyany , government of Wilna . While still a boy, he went to Ottoman Palestine with his parents, who settled at Safed , and at their death in 1836, he moved to Jerusalem . In 1848, he was commissioned by the Jewish community of the latter city to travel through the southern countries to collect alms for the poor of Jerusalem. In 1854 he undertook a second tour to collect funds for the construction of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter , which led him in 1859 to Yemen , British India , Egypt , and Australia . The result of this journey was his momentous ethnographic work, `Even Sapir , a travel diary in which he gave the history, and a vivid though uncritical description of the condition of the Jews in the above-mentioned countries. Saphir published also Iggeret Teman (Wilna, 1868, consciously titled after Rambam 's letter of centuries earlier), a work on the appearance in Yemen of the pseudo-Messiah Judah ben Shalom , and which was largely responsible for ending Judah ben Shalom's career. Saphir died in Jerusalem in 1886. Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo geniza , as well as the first to publicize the existence of the Midrash ha-Gadol , both later studied with great panache by Solomon Schechter . Sapir also did extensive research and writings on Yanover , Israeli and Greek etrogs . He dedicated a collection of poetry to Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore . [Yesovev ʼAdmat Ḥam (masaʼ Miṛayim) Yam Suf, Ḥadre Teman, Mizraḥ Hodu kulo, ʼErets ha-ḥadashah ʼOsṭralya u-teshuvato ha-ramatah Yėrushalayim. ha-ʼAratsot ʼasher sovavti ṿe-tarti ... matsav ṿe-toʼ ar aḥenu ... ṿeha-mosaʻot ʼotam me-az ʻad ha-yom, ṿe-nilṿah ʼelehem sipurim ṿe-ʻinyanim toranim ṿa-ḥaḳirot ṿe-heʻarot ... ṿe-tsiyune ṿe-reshimot matsevot ʻatiḳot ... ṿe-shire ḳodesh ... / [meʼet] Yaʻaḳov Sapir ha-Leṿi']; Second edition published in Mainz in 1874 Hirschfeld, Hartwig ; Montefiore Library. Descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 953140927.
The opening as it stood in 2010
A photo from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. Jacob Saphir (1822-1886) ( ) was a Meshulach and traveler of Rumanian descent, born in Oshmyany , government of Wilna . While still a boy he went to Palestine with his parents, who settled at Safed , and at their death in 1836 he moved to Jerusalem . In 1848, he was commissioned by the Jewish community of the latter city to travel through the southern countries to collect alms for the poor of Jerusalem. In 1854 he undertook a second tour to collect funds for the construction of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter which led him to Yemen , British India , Egypt , and Australia . The result of this journey was his `Even Sapir (vol. i., Lyck, 1866; vol. ii., Mainz, 1874), in which work he gave the history, and a vivid though uncritical description of the condition, of the Jews in the above-mentioned countries. Saphir published also Iggeret Teman (Wilna, 1868, consciously titled after Rambam 's letter of centuries earlier), a work on the appearance in Yemen of the pseudo-Messiah Judah ben Shalom , and which was largely responsible for ending Judah ben Shalom's career. Saphir died in Jerusalem in 1886. Jacob Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo geniza , as well as the first to publicize the existence of the Midrash ha-Gadol , both later studied with great panache by Solomon Schechter . `Even Sapir: Yesovev ʼAdmat Ḥam (masaʼ Miṛayim) Yam Suf, Ḥadre Teman, Mizraḥ Hodu kulo, ʼErets ha-ḥadashah ʼOsṭralya u-teshuvato ha-ramatah Yėrushalayim. ha-ʼAratsot ʼasher sovavti ṿe-tarti ... matsav ṿe-toʼ ar aḥenu ... ṿeha-mosaʻot ʼotam me-az ʻad ha-yom, ṿe-nilṿah ʼelehem sipurim ṿe-ʻinyanim toranim ṿa-ḥaḳirot ṿe-heʻarot ... ṿe-tsiyune ṿe-reshimot matsevot ʻatiḳot ... ṿe-shire ḳodesh ... / [meʼet] Yaʻaḳov Sapir ha-Leṿi' 2 vols.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 369081685.
The opening as it stood in 2015
A photograph of Saphir from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Jacob Saphir (1822–1886) ( ) was a Meshulach and traveler of Rumanian Jewish descent, born in Oshmyany , government of Wilna . While still a boy he went to Ottoman Palestine with his parents, who settled at Safed , and at their death in 1836, he moved to Jerusalem . In 1848, he was commissioned by the Jewish community of the latter city to travel through the southern countries to collect alms for the poor of Jerusalem. In 1854 he undertook a second tour to collect funds for the construction of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter which led him in 1859 to Yemen , British India , Egypt , and Australia . The result of this journey was his momentous ethnographic work, `Even Sapir , a travel diary in which he gave the history, and a vivid though uncritical description of the condition of the Jews in the above-mentioned countries. Saphir published also Iggeret Teman (Wilna, 1868, consciously titled after Rambam 's letter of centuries earlier), a work on the appearance in Yemen of the pseudo-Messiah Judah ben Shalom , and which was largely responsible for ending Judah ben Shalom's career. Saphir died in Jerusalem in 1886. Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo geniza , as well as the first to publicize the existence of the Midrash ha-Gadol , both later studied with great panache by Solomon Schechter . Sapir also did a lot of research and writings on Yanover , Palestinian and Greek etrogs . [Yesovev ʼAdmat Ḥam (masaʼ Miṛayim) Yam Suf, Ḥadre Teman, Mizraḥ Hodu kulo, ʼErets ha-ḥadashah ʼOsṭralya u-teshuvato ha-ramatah Yėrushalayim. ha-ʼAratsot ʼasher sovavti ṿe-tarti ... matsav ṿe-toʼ ar aḥenu ... ṿeha-mosaʻot ʼotam me-az ʻad ha-yom, ṿe-nilṿah ʼelehem sipurim ṿe-ʻinyanim toranim ṿa-ḥaḳirot ṿe-heʻarot ... ṿe-tsiyune ṿe-reshimot matsevot ʻatiḳot ... ṿe-shire ḳodesh ... / [meʼet] Yaʻaḳov Sapir ha-Leṿi']; Second edition published in Mainz in 1874
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660054464.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Hebrew researcher, ethnographer, and emissary Jacob Saphir Jacob Saphir ( ; 1822–1886) was a 19th-century writer, ethnographer , researcher of Hebrew manuscripts, a traveler and emissary of the rabbis of Eastern European Jewish descent who settled in Jerusalem during his early life.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1119252438.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Hebrew researcher, ethnographer, and emissary Jacob Saphir ( Hebrew : יעקב הלוי ספיר , romanized : Yankev HaLeyvy Sapir ; 1822–1886), often pronounced Yaakov Sapir , was a 19th-century writer, ethnographer , researcher of Hebrew manuscripts, a traveler and emissary of the rabbis of Eastern European Jewish descent who settled in Jerusalem during his early life.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1291312349. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “meshulach and traveler of rumanian descent”. Today it says “a 19th-century writer”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
meshulach and traveler of rumanian descent
Now
a 19th-century writer
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
