Akeidath Yitzchak [“Binding of Isaac": Philosophical and allegorical homilies to the Pentateuch]

AUCTION 39 | Thursday, April 03rd, 2008 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters & Graphic Art

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Lot 46

ARAMA, ISAAC

Akeidath Yitzchak [“Binding of Isaac": Philosophical and allegorical homilies to the Pentateuch]

Second edition. Title within woodcut architectural arch. Opening word of each part within an elaborate border. On title, a monogrammatic Sephardic signature: "Ha-tza'ir Shmuel [illegible]." On final leaf, family inscriptions in a cursive Aschkenazic hand dated 1722 and 1725. Scattered learned marginalia. ff. 309. Title and ff. 287-8, 304-9 laid to size. Waterstained throughout. Contemporary blind-tooled calf with clasps and hinges. Folio Vinograd, Venice 326; Habermann, Bomberg 195; not in Adams

Venice: Daniel Bomberg 1547

Est: $600 - $900

PRICE REALIZED $1,400

Isaac Arama (c.1420-1494), rabbi of Calatayud, Spain, is known as “the preacher’s preacher.” In his introduction, Arama breaks his sermons down into two components, which he terms “derishah” (investigation) and “perishah” (exposition). In the first part, the preacher investigates a philosophical idea in light of his chosen texts, biblical and rabbinical. This phase completed, the preacher then assumes the role of an exegete, elucidating the text - and context - of the portion at hand. The title, “Binding of Isaac,” refers to the successful binding and connecting of the two types of homiletics, “derishah” and “perishah.” The book is divided into 105 “gates.” See I. Bettan, Studies in Jewish Preaching (1939), pp. 130, 143-144; EJ, Vol. III, cols. 256-259