Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rabbi in wittmund”. Today it says “rabbi who made the first whole translation of the hebrew bible into yiddish”.
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.
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The opening as it read in 2025
Wittmund , Germany, fl. 1670s) was a rabbi who made the first whole translation of the Hebrew Bible into Yiddish . Blitz was a corrector of the press in the Hebrew printing-office of Uri Phoebus (Faibush) Halevi in Amsterdam and was commissioned by him to make a translation which finished printing in late 1678. The translation which was the first of its kind of the entire Old Testament has three introductions; one in Hebrew and one in German written by Blitz and the third in Judæo-German by the printer together with letters patent of the king of Poland Johann III Sobieski and approbations by various rabbis. Blitz also translated into Judæo-German Levi ben Gerson 's "To'aliyyot" on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, published together with the preceding work. Since Blitz was not an accomplished Hebraist he relied on other translations into Germanic languages, Luther 's German translation and the Dutch Statenvertaling . "Rosenthaliana: Two Yiddish Bibles printed in Amsterdam" . cf.uba.uva.nl . Frakes - 2005 "Jekuthiel Blitz went so far as to praise the more accessible Christian translations, in comparison to which the Yiddish translations were inarticulate."
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1249655405.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Jekuthiel ben Isaac Blitz ( fl. 1670s ) was a rabbi in Wittmund , Germany, who was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Yiddish. He was commissioned by Amsterdam printer Uri Fayvesh to make a translation which Fayvesh finished printing in late 1678. Frakes - 2005 "Jekuthiel Blitz went so far as to praise the more accessible Christian translations, in comparison to which the Yiddish translations were inarticulate."
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 641903876.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Wittmund , Germany, fl. 1670s) was a rabbi who made the first whole translation of the Hebrew Bible into Yiddish .Blitz was a corrector of the press in the Hebrew printing-office of Uri Phoebus (Faibush) Halevi in Amsterdam and was commissioned by him to make a translation which finished printing in late 1678.The translation which was the first of its kind of the entire Old Testament has three introductions; one in Hebrew and one in German written by Blitz and the third in Judæo-German by the printer together with letters patent of the king of Poland Johann III Sobieski and approbations by various rabbis.Blitz also translated into Judæo-German Levi ben Gerson 's "To'aliyyot" on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, published together with the preceding work.Since Blitz was not an accomplished Hebraist he relied on other translations into Germanic languages, Luther 's German translation and the Dutch Statenvertaling ."Rosenthaliana: Two Yiddish Bibles printed in Amsterdam" . cf.uba.uva.nl . Frakes - 2005 "Jekuthiel Blitz went so far as to praise the more accessible Christian translations, in comparison to which the Yiddish translations were inarticulate."
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 895819900.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rabbi in wittmund”. Today it says “rabbi who made the first whole translation of the hebrew bible into yiddish”. Read the current article and compare.
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 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
rabbi in wittmund
Now
rabbi who made the first whole translation of the hebrew bible into yiddish
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.
