Ritualgesetze der Juden - Ritual Laws of the Jews. Berlin, 1778. Authored by Moses Mendelssohn by Request of the ...

Ritualgesetze der Juden - Ritual Laws of the Jews. Berlin, 1778. Authored by Moses Mendelssohn by Request of the Rabbi of Berlin
Ritualgesetze der Juden, betreffend Erbschaften, Vormundschaftssachen, Testamente und Ehesachen, in so weit sie das Mein und Dein angehen - [Jewish Law on Inheritance, Guardianship, Wills, Marriage and Divorce].
As part of the beginning of the emancipation in 1776, the Prussian regime cancelled the autonomous status of the Jews in legal matters, and prohibited them from self-adjudicating. Two years later, in 1778, the authorities turned to the chief rabbi of Berlin, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levine (Berlin) and requested that he prepare an overview of Jewish laws of matrimony, inheritance, guardianship, divorce, etc. for them. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch was not sufficiently fluent in the German language for this task, so he asked his friend Moses Mendelssohn to prepare the overview for him. In response to this request, Mendelssohn authored the book before us (which was approved by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levine).
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levine (Berlin) [1721-1800] was born in Raysha to the local rabbi, and was the (maternal) nephew of Rabbi Ya'akov Emden - the Ya'avetz. (Later on, he interceded on behalf of the Ya'avetz in the great dispute between the Ya'avetz and R' Yehonatan Eybeschütz.) After his father-in-law's passing, he suffered from financial distress, and agreed to take on the London rabbinate. His service as rabbi of London didn't last very long, since the London community was too compromising for him. After a period in the Halberstadt and Mannheim rabbinates, he was appointed rabbi of Berlin. Winds of the enlightenment (haskalah) began to blow in Berlin. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch took a conciliatory approach with them, including taking a positive view of general studies. He maintained good and friendly relations with the famous philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and even gave his approbation to Mendelssohn's magnum opus, a translation and elucidation of the chumash. Mendelssohn wrote this book for his friend, the rabbi.
Moses Mendelssohn [1729-1786] was a German-Jewish philosopher, considered the patriarch of the Jewish enlightenment movement.
[6], [2], 267, XXII.
16 cm. German.
Fine-very fine condition. Aging stains. New binding.