Giv’ath Sha’ul [Eulogy for Rabbi Saul Halevi, Av Beth Din of The Hague]

TRAKHEIM, ISAAC

Widow and Orphans Proops

Amsterdam

1786

FIRST EDITION. Hebrew interspersed with Judeo-German. Title within typographical border. In our copy, the date of death of the Rabbi has been corrected on the title from 25 Kislev to 25 Iyar, 1785. Printer’s device on title and final leaf. (See Yaari, Hebrew Printers’ Marks, 147)

Vinograd, Amsterdam 2151

Includes fascinating insight by Maimonides on the inevitability of high-speed air travel. Whereby, a traveller may be in Surat, India in the morning, and by evening, have reached Philadelphia, America. See M. Silber, America in Hebrew Literature, p. 45. In his introduction, the Author explains that he is the father of nine daughters in need of dowries and that he intends to use the funds raised from the sale of this work for that express purpose. Indeed, the chronogram on the title is “Li-Nedan Biti” (For my Daughter’s Dowry). Endorsements of David Cohen d’Azevedo, Sephardic Rabbi, Amsterdam; Saul [Löwenstamm], Aschkenazic Rabbi, Amsterdam (brother-in-law of deceased; author “Binyan Ariel”); and Aryeh Leib Breslau of Rotterdam. Rabbi Saul Halevi (1712-1785), rabbi of the Aschkenazic congregation of The Hague, was the son-in-law of Chief Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Amsterdam, who in turn, was the son-in-law of the famed “Chacham Tzvi”, R. Tzvi Hirsch Aschkenazi, first Chief Rabbi of the Aschkenazi community of Amsterdam. During Chief Rabbi Saul’s tenure, and in no small measure due to his support, The Hague blossomed as a major center of Hebrew printing. See M.H. Gans, Memorbook, pp. 164, 243