Thursz, Dov Berish. Has Kategor ["Silence the Accuser": defense of the Talmud against the false accusations of the Polish anti-Semite Andrzej Nemoyevski]

AUCTION 40 | Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art

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Lot 191
(POLEMICS)

Thursz, Dov Berish. Has Kategor ["Silence the Accuser": defense of the Talmud against the false accusations of the Polish anti-Semite Andrzej Nemoyevski]

FIRST EDITION. Title within modernist typographical border. Marginalia in Hebrew and Polish pp. (1), 3, (1), 152 (out of 154). Browned throughout. Contemporary marbled boards, wear. 4to Friedberg, H-846

Warsaw: J. Wagmeister 1924

Est: $400 - $600
This rare volume bears the encomia of three important leaders from three divergent traditions: The great Rabbi Tzvi Ezekiel Michaelzohn of Warsaw; The great Chassidic Rebbe Mordechai Joseph Elazar Leiner of Radzyn; and The great Maskil Prof. Dr. Meir Balaban. On pp. 148-152 we find a blistering attack on the journalist Hillel Zeitlin, whose lukewarm pre-release review of the book appeared in the Yiddish newspaper Moment. While praising the author's familiarity with the entire rabbinic literature, Zeitlin pointed out that the book "lacks scholarly material, systematic presentation, modern style and idiom, and historic perspective." Returning the favor, Thursz subjects Zeitlin to a venomous ad hominem attack: "He [Zeitlin] immerses himself, publicly purifying himself in the sea of Chabad Chassiduth, while holding in his hand modern disbelief" (p. 148).