Judah Leib Ben Ze'ev (1764-1811), scholar
Judah Leib Ben Ze'ev (1764-1811) was a Jewish scholar, grammarian and lexicographer; the first Jewish scholar to apply Western research methods to the study of Hebrew. Born near Cracow, Ben Ze'ev received a traditional Jewish education, but covertly, on his own, studied Hebrew philology and secular subjects. He belonged to the group of Polish-Jewish writers that published Ha-Me'assef, a literary organ in the spirit of the early Haskalah. Later, in 1787, when he moved to Berlin, he was admitted to the circle of Haskalah scholars there. He then returned to his native city but was forced to leave because of opposition to his liberal opinions. He settled in Breslau and later in Vienna, working in Hebrew publishing houses. His interests went beyond the Hebrew Bible, including the study of Sirach and Judith.