BEER-BING, ISAIAH:
French journalist; born at Metz in 1759; died in Paris July 21, 1805. He entered early upon a literary career, and at the age of twenty-five published a French translation of the "Phaedon" of Moses Mendelssohn, under the title "Traité sur l'Ame." In 1788 he attracted the attention of Abbé Grégoire, Mirabeau, Lafayette, and Roederer, by his pamphlets in behalf of the Jews, and especially by his "Lettre," in which he defended his coreligionists against the attacks of Aubert Dubayet. Notwithstanding his various literary occupations, he did not neglect the Hebrew language, and translated Mendelssohn's "Phaedon" into Hebrew, with a preface and commendatory verses written by the poet Hartwig Wessely (Berlin, 1786). Beer-Bing was, however, obliged to interrupt his literary career, because of the necessity of securing means to provide for his large family, and he obtained the position of administrator of the salt-works in the eastern part of France.
- Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., xi. 177, 178;
- Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendelssohniana, p. 31.
