(HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL)
Three works bound in one volume.FIRST EDITIONS.Previous owners’ ...

(HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL)
Three works bound in one volume.


FIRST EDITIONS.Previous owners’ inscriptions, touch foxed. Contemporary boards. 8vo. * Hirsch B. Fassel. Zwei Gottesdienstliche Vorträge, gehalten in der Synagoge zu Prossnitz [“Two Liturgical Lectures, held in the Synagogue of Prossnitz.”] pp. 31. Inscribed and signed by the Author on title-page. Vienna, 1838. * Hirsch B. Fassel. Cherev BeTzion. oder Briefe eines judischen Gelehrten und Rabbinen uber das Werk “Chorev, Bersuche uber Jissroels Pflichten in der Zerstreuung von S.R. Hirsch” [“The Sword of Israel, or Letters from Jewish Scholars and Rabbis about the Work ‘Horeb, concerning Israel's Duties in the Diaspora, by S.R. Hirsch.’] pp. xii, 44. Leipzig, 1839. * (S.R. Hirsch.) Postscripta zu den unter dem Titel Cherev BeTzion [“Postscript to that under the Title: Cherev BeTzion.”] pp. 52, 2. Altona, 1840.

v.p.: v.d
‘Horeb’ is considered to be Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s philosophical masterwork, an ambitious attempt to rationally explain the reason behind each of the 613 precepts in the Torah. While the work was immediately met with acclaim in Orthodox circles, it received fervent push back from the Reform. ‘Cherev BeTzion’ was one of the first of such oppositional works. Despite his attacks on Horeb’s understanding of the Halakhic system, Fassel could not help but praise the work as superior to Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed. Geiger, an old acquaintance of Hirsch, also published a fierce attack on Horeb. In the Postscripta, Rabbiner Hirsch replies to them both. Hirsch Baer Fassel (1802-83) was not himself a Reform Rabbi, although in Halakhic decision-making he tended towards leniency. Indeed, his Rabbinic positions demonstrate this: He was elected by the congregation of Breslau as associate-rabbi to Abraham Geiger in order to satisfy the Synagogue’s conservatives - yet turned the position down. He later applied to be Chief Rabbi of Moravia, but lost the position to none other than S.R. Hirsch himself. See JE, Vol. V p. 346.
‘Horeb’ is considered to be Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s philosophical masterwork, an ambitious attempt to rationally explain the reason behind each of the 613 precepts in the Torah. While the work was immediately met with acclaim in Orthodox circles, it received fervent push back from the Reform. ‘Cherev BeTzion’ was one of the first of such oppositional works. Despite his attacks on Horeb’s understanding of the Halakhic system, Fassel could not help but praise the work as superior to Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed. Geiger, an old acquaintance of Hirsch, also published a fierce attack on Horeb. In the Postscripta, Rabbiner Hirsch replies to them both. Hirsch Baer Fassel (1802-83) was not himself a Reform Rabbi, although in Halakhic decision-making he tended towards leniency. Indeed, his Rabbinic positions demonstrate this: He was elected by the congregation of Breslau as associate-rabbi to Abraham Geiger in order to satisfy the Synagogue’s conservatives - yet turned the position down. He later applied to be Chief Rabbi of Moravia, but lost the position to none other than S.R. Hirsch himself. See JE, Vol. V p. 346.