Jacob Mordecai (1762-1838). Autograph Manuscript, written in English (with some Hebrew) entitled: “Institutions of Moses.” Signed by Mordecai on the upper cover, along with inscription: “For Mrs. R. Lazarus” (his daughter Rachel).
Auction 92 |
Thursday, February 18th,
2021 at 1:00pm
Fine Judaica: Rare Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters & Graphic Arts
Lot 154
(AMERICAN-JUDAICA).
Jacob Mordecai (1762-1838). Autograph Manuscript, written in English (with some Hebrew) entitled: “Institutions of Moses.” Signed by Mordecai on the upper cover, along with inscription: “For Mrs. R. Lazarus” (his daughter Rachel).
(Richmond, Virginia): circa 1835
Est: $12,000 - $15,000
Jacob Mordecai (1762-1838) was a pioneer of women’s education in America, founding the Warrenton Female Academy in Warrenton, North Carolina, where he and his family were the small town’s sole Jews. His daughter Rachel (1788-1838), the eldest girl in a family of thirteen, was a teacher at the Academy, and in 1821 married Aaron Marks Lazarus, a Wilmington, North Carolina, merchant and shipper. Notably, Rachel maintained a correspondence with the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth, disappointed as she was with the unflattering stereotypical portrait of a Jewish character in Edgeworth's The Absentee (1812). In later years, Rachel Lazarus underwent a spiritual crisis and was drawn to Christianity.
Unstated in this manuscript is any motive or desire to specifically address a crisis of faith, but there can be little doubt that Jacob Mordecai, by way of the gift of this lengthy essay, sought to renew his daughter’s appreciation of the spiritual gifts to be found within Judaism. Mordecai at the time was ill - as noted in the flyleaf inscription - and as indicated by his spidery handwriting, clearly, this manuscript was written with considerable physical (and emotional) effort.
Waiting until after her father’s death, Rachel Lazarus converted to Christianity on her deathbed.
See Emily Bingham, Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth: Intellect, Power, Conversion, and Apostasy in the Life of Rachel Mordecai Lazarus, in: Donald G. Matthews and Beth Barton Schweiger, Rethinking Religion in the American South (2004) and https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lazarus-rachel-mordecai.
<<A manuscript written under distinctly personal circumstances. >>