Moreh Nevuchei Ha’zman [“Guide for the Perplexed of the Time”]. Edited by Leopold (Yom Tov Lipmann) Zunz

KROCHMAL, NACHMAN

Joseph Schneider

Lemberg

1851

FIRST EDITION . Stamp on title. Signatures on rear endpaper

Vinograd, Lemberg 1087

Moreh Nevuchei Ha’zman is considered to be the philosophical statement of the Galician Enlightenment. Unfinished by the author, the treatise was compiled and published posthumously by Leopold Zunz. It attempts to reconcile Judaism with the prevailing philosophy of the age. The work discusses almost all of the major problems of Jewish historiography, thus laying the groundwork for future historical research. Krochmal was the first Jewish thinker to outline a projection of Jewish history that not only explains the survival of Jewry, but attributes to it an eternal existence as a consequence of the Jews’ relationship with God. For a detailed discussion of Krochmal’s philosophical development, see Zinberg, vol. X pp.65-86. Simon Rawidowicz (London, 1961) published a critical edition of Moreh Nevuchei Ha'zman, which drew heavily on Zunz's earlier edition, but provided much additional insight into the mind of this important thinker. One of the fallacies Rawidowicz set out to dispel was the notion that Krochmal was an Hegelian. Krochmal exerted considerable intellectual influence upon the rabbi of his city of residence Zolkiew, none other than the great Talmudist R. Zvi Hirsch Chajes. In fact, the bond between the two men was such that Krochmal's son Abraham was practically raised in the home of Chajes. Both Krochmal and Chajes drew sharp attack from the local chasidim on account of their enlightened views.