Falk, Joshua ben Mordecai Hakohen. Sepher Avnei Yehoshua [“Stones of Joshua”: Philosophical Commentary to the Ethics of the Fathers

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

“Jewish Messenger” Office

New York

1860

FIRST EDITION. Exceedingly beautiful typography

Vinograd, New York 53; Deinard Koheleth America 4; Singerman 1653

The First Rabbinical Text Published in America. The First Hebrew Book Printed in New York. Falk was well aware of the revolutionary aspect of issuing a work of Jewish scholarship - in Hebrew - in the New World. His preface urges people to buy this book in order to prove that works of this nature do indeed have a demand in America, and consequently more such works will be printed in this country. The typsetter, Naphtali ben Kathriel Samuel of Thorn (Prussia), also recognizes the book’s importance, viz, the colophon: “ I give thanks that it was my good fortune to be the typesetter of this scholarly book, the first of its kind in America. Blessed be the God of Israel who surely will not deny us the Redeemer.” The author bases much of his work on classic philosophical investigations culled from Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed, Halevi’s Kuzari, Arama’s Akeidath Yitzhchak, Albo’s Ikarim and Aldabi’s Shevilei Emunah. Joshua Falk was born in Poland in 1799, arrived in America in 1858 and served as Rabbi in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, New York. He died in the year of the book’s publication whilst visiting his daughter in Keokuk, Iowa. See A.J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures from the Library of Congress (1991) pp.316-7 (illustrated)