Wikipedia's first sentence called it “german jewish philosopher and preacher from birnbaum”. Today it says “german jewish philosopher and preacher”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 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 October 6, 2023
He was born in Birnbaum (Międzychód) , Grand Duchy of Posen . After teaching for several years at the Breslau rabbinical seminary , founded by Zecharias Frankel , in 1863 he became the successor of Abraham Geiger in the rabbinate of Breslau . He made important contributions to the history of the school of Aqiba as well as to the history of Jewish philosophy , his essays on Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides being of permanent worth. But his most influential work was connected with the relations between Jewish philosophy and the medieval scholasticism . He showed how Albertus Magnus derived some of his ideas from Maimonides and how Spinoza was indebted to the same writer, as well as to Hasdai Crescas . These essays were collected in two volumes of Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie (1876), while another two volumes of Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte (1880-1883) threw much light on the development of religious thought in the early centuries of the Christian era . Equally renowned were Joel's pulpit addresses. Though he was no orator, his appeal to the reason was effective, and in their published form his three volumes of Predigten (issued posthumously) found many readers. Joël was the chief rabbi of the reform Jewish congregation when the New Synagogue was completed in 1872. He died in 1890 in Breslau .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1104359588.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Manuel Joël or Joel (1826 October 19 - 1890 November 3) was a German Jewish philosopher and preacher from Birnbaum (Międzychód) , Grand Duchy of Posen . After teaching for several years at the Breslau rabbinical seminary , founded by Zecharias Frankel , he became the successor of Abraham Geiger in the rabbinate of Breslau . He made important contributions to the history of the school of Aqiba as well as to the history of Jewish philosophy , his essays on Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides being of permanent worth. But his most influential work was connected with the relations between Jewish philosophy and the medieval scholasticism . He showed how Albertus Magnus derived some of his ideas from Maimonides and how Spinoza was indebted to the same writer, as well as to Hasdai Crescas . These essays were collected in two volumes of Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie (1876), while another two volumes of Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte (1880-1883) threw much light on the development of religious thought in the early centuries of the Christian era. Equally renowned were Joel's pulpit addresses. Though he was no orator, his appeal to the reason was effective, and in their published form his three volumes of Predigten (issued posthumously) found many readers.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 348544764.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He was born in Birnbaum (Międzychód) , Grand Duchy of Posen . After teaching for several years at the Breslau rabbinical seminary , founded by Zecharias Frankel , he became the successor of Abraham Geiger in the rabbinate of Breslau . He made important contributions to the history of the school of Aqiba as well as to the history of Jewish philosophy , his essays on Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides being of permanent worth. But his most influential work was connected with the relations between Jewish philosophy and the medieval scholasticism . He showed how Albertus Magnus derived some of his ideas from Maimonides and how Spinoza was indebted to the same writer, as well as to Hasdai Crescas . These essays were collected in two volumes of Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie (1876), while another two volumes of Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte (1880-1883) threw much light on the development of religious thought in the early centuries of the Christian era. Equally renowned were Joel's pulpit addresses. Though he was no orator, his appeal to the reason was effective, and in their published form his three volumes of Predigten (issued posthumously) found many readers. Joël died in 1890 in Breslau .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660356439.
The opening as it stood in 2020
He was born in Birnbaum (Międzychód) , Grand Duchy of Posen . After teaching for several years at the Breslau rabbinical seminary , founded by Zecharias Frankel , he became the successor of Abraham Geiger in the rabbinate of Breslau . He made important contributions to the history of the school of Aqiba as well as to the history of Jewish philosophy , his essays on Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides being of permanent worth. But his most influential work was connected with the relations between Jewish philosophy and the medieval scholasticism . He showed how Albertus Magnus derived some of his ideas from Maimonides and how Spinoza was indebted to the same writer, as well as to Hasdai Crescas . These essays were collected in two volumes of Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie (1876), while another two volumes of Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte (1880-1883) threw much light on the development of religious thought in the early centuries of the Christian era . Equally renowned were Joel's pulpit addresses. Though he was no orator, his appeal to the reason was effective, and in their published form his three volumes of Predigten (issued posthumously) found many readers. Joël died in 1890 in Breslau .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 874959174.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “german jewish philosopher and preacher from birnbaum”. Today it says “german jewish philosopher and preacher”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
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Oct '23
2025
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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
german jewish philosopher and preacher from birnbaum
Now
german jewish philosopher and preacher
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