Christian David Ginsburg

Christian David Ginsburg (born Dec. 25, 1831, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire [now in Poland]—died March 7, 1914, Palmers Green, Middlesex, Eng.) was a Hebrew and biblical scholar who was the foremost authority in England on the Masorah (authoritative Jewish tradition concerning the correct text of the Hebrew Bible).

Ginsburg, who was born a Jew, immigrated to England not long after his conversion to Christianity in 1846. While working there as a missionary among the Jews (until 1863), he made a name as a biblical scholar, publishing translations with commentaries on the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and Leviticus. He republished Jacob ben Chajim’s introduction to the Rabbinic Bible (first printed in 1524–25) with an English translation (1867); edited the Masorah, without the biblical text (4 vol., 1800–86); and wrote Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (1897), which served as an introduction to his critical edition of the text of the Hebrew Bible according to the Masoretic tradition (1894).