SPIRA, JUDAH LEIB (FRANKFURTER, LOEB)

HaRechasim leBik’ah [Commentary to the Pentateuch]. ff. (2), 76. [Vinograd, Altona 210]. Altona, Samuel and Judah Bonn Segal. 1815. * Bound with: De Lonzano, Menachem. Or Torah [Masoretic notes to the Pentateuch]. FIRST EDITION. Title within architectural columns. Head- and tail-piece. ff. 27. [Vinograd, Amsterdam 255]. (Amsterdam: Uri Feivis ben Aaron Halevi, 1659)

The author is concerned with arriving at the peshat or simple meaning of the Bible and his method is a careful etymological analysis of each word. It is possible Spira was inspired in this approach by the Bi’ur of Mendelssohn. The author, a resident of Frankfurt, was a great-uncle of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch who quotes the former in his commentary to the Pentateuch. See E.M. Klugman, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch: A Biography (1996), pp. 2-3