73 95 ETTLINGER, JACOB (The Aruch LaNer, 1798-1871). Autograph Letter Signed, in Hebrew, written to Zalman Vitkowsky. Concerning the recipient’s son: “It is sweet for my soul to make your heart happy… Your son Yochanan is studying assiduously and follows an appropriate path… I will continue to watch over and guide him. I am also sending you my newly published work “Aruch LaNer.” Altona, Friday, Parshath Chukath, 1850. * LETTER TIPPED INTO PRINTED BOOK: Aruch LaNer [on Trac. Yevamoth]. FIRST EDITION. [Vinograd, Altona 266]. Altona 1850. $5000 - $7000 ❧ The recipient was enthralled to receive this presentation copy of Sepher Aruch LaNer and wrote on the title: “Sent to me from the Gaon as per his letter, as a remembrance of love… May I always study it.” With stamp on the front flyleaf “Yochanan Vitkower, Altona.” Obviously, this is the son about whom the above letter was written. He likely changed his name from Vitkowsky to Vitkower. The Aruch Laner was one of the foremost German Rabbinical leaders. In addition to his scholarly Talmudic works and responsa, he also edited the periodical Shomer Tzion Hane’eman which sought to combat the rising influence of the Reform movement by publishing popular and timely articles on a host of topics pertinent to Orthodox Jewry. 96 HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL (Foremost Orthodox Rabbi in Germany, 1808-88). “Av - Jeremias.” Autograph Manuscript in German, with occasional use of Hebrew, with corrections in the same hand. The portion concludes with a short Hebrew prayer for good health. pp. 5. Folio. 1857. $2000 - $3000 ❧ Autograph manuscript of Samson Raphael Hirsch’s lead article on the Hebrew month of Av, published in the August 1857 issue of Jeschurun, the Orthodox monthly periodical that was edited by Hirsch himself, the rabbi of the secessionist Orthodox “Israelitische Religions-Gesellschaft” in Frankfurt am Main. In this article Samson Raphael Hirsch comments on Jeremiah Ch. 16:19 - Ch. 17:14 in which the Prophet emphasizes the need to place one’s trust in God and not in man. Hirsch reflects how the Jews lost their Land, yet took with them their God. This spiritual heritage became their strength and the core of their survival in the Diaspora for eighteen hundred years. He comments at length on the Christian flaw of seeing the Jewish nation as cast off by God due to their sins. Hirsch asserts that the Jews are the Chosen People and their laws and ethical principles became the foundation of other religions. He sees God’s blessing in the survival of the spiritual heritage of the Jewish people which is built upon individual faith and trust in God. Published in: Jeschurun. Jg. 3. 5617 =1856/1857, Heft 11 (August 1857), pp. 547-56 [manuscript text is complete]. Lot 95 Lot 96