WARSHAWSKY, ISAAC

WARSHAWSKY, ISAAC (pseudonym Ben Asher; 1832–1903), Hebrew writer and linguist. Born in Odessa, Warshawsky taught Hebrew at a talmud torah, Judaism at a government school there, and supervised several charitable institutions. He published articles in the Hebrew and Russo-Jewish press. A proponent of the purity of the Hebrew language, he wrote the polemic, Li-Teḥiyyat Sefat Ever (2 vols., 1893, 1902), attacking those who were developing the language without due regard to its grammar. Among his other works are Ha-Ḥoker (vol. 1, 1863 in Hebrew, vol. 2, 1866 in German) and a history of Israel until the building of the Second Temple, Toledot Yisrael (1867, and many other editions). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Sokolow (ed.), Sefer Zikkaron le-Soferei Yisrael (1889), 37f. (Gedalyah Elkoshi)