Nahman Katofa (1 results)
More imagesKuntres mi-Sefer ha-Zohar Hibbura Tinyana [BOUND WITH] Sefer Iggeret ha-Kodesh [AND] Nevu'at ha-Yeled [AND] Herev Nokemet Nekam Berit
Satanow, Isaac; Nahman Katofa (pseud.); Moshe ben Nahman (Nachmanides, the Ramban); Meyer Israel Bresselau
Published by Hevrat Hinukh Ne'arim (Berlin Freischule)/[n.p.], Berlin and Dessau 1782
- Hardcover
- First Edition
Seller: ERIC CHAIM KLINE, BOOKSELLER (ABAA ILAB), Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.ERIC CHAIM KLINE, BOOKSELLER (ABAA ILAB)
Contact seller3-star sellerHardcover. Condition: Nearly Fine. First editions (2 of 4). Sammelband of four opuscules published between 1782 and 1819, octavo. Contemporary half calf (top inch perished) over pastepaper boards; spine lettered and tooled in gilt. Edges speckled blue. Covers lightly worn, else fine, clean copies (the fourth work lightly foxed t…hroughout). The first three works issued from the Hevrat Hinukh Ne'arim (Berlin Freischule) under the supervision of Isaac Satanow (1732-1804), the most prolific Hebrew writer of the Berlin Haskalah. As director of the publishing house, Satanow was assigned the task of reissuing old Hebrew classics by the Marpeh ha-Nefesh, a philanthropic group headed by the banker Daniel Itzig, his son-in-law, David Friedländer, and the famous physican and philosopher, Marcus Herz. A number of these editions, however, were in fact original works by Satanow, which he presented as the work of earlier writers. The first item in the sammelband is an outstanding example of this latter type. I. Kuntres mi-Sefer ha-Zohar Hibura Tinyana, Berlin: Hevrat Hinukh Ne'arim, 1783. [aleph]-[gimel]8 [dalet]1; 25ff. Vinograd (Berlin) 313. First edition of this polemic styled in imitation of the Zohar as a response to the Mitpahat Sefarim (1768) of Jacob Emden (1697-1776), in which the latter calls into question the antiquity and textual integrity of that chief work of the Jewish mystical tradition. Emden's critique may be understood as an attempt to undermine the doctrinal foundation of the Frankists, who based their beliefs on the Zohar. "Emden had suspected the authenticity of the Zohar for a long time, and he hoped some time 'to reveal the strange things found in the book.' But these intentions were secretly nursed within him for many years until the time was propitious for his exposé" (Cohen). Perhaps surprisingly for a maskil, Satanow held a very different view: "While advocating secular knowledge and the study of science, Satanow also expressed great admiration for Kabbalah. In contrast to Emden he claims that the whole Zohar was written by Bar Yohai, and Moses De Leon had nothing to do with its writing. He also rejects Emden's claim that in the Zohar there are words against the Talmud, and promises to 'consult the Zohar and prove that all its words are right and truthful, none of them is crooked [Kuntres mi-Sefer ha-Zohar, pp. 25, 26]" (N. Rezler-Bersohn). Born in the Polish (now Ukrainian) town of Satanov, Isaac Satanow settled in Berlin around 1771. "Among the most prolific of the early Haskalah writers. Satanow demonstrated a wealth of knowledge of the Hebrew language, ranking as a model stylest throughout the Haskalah period" (EJ 14: 905-906). As a leading representive of the eighteenth-century Jewish Enlightement, Satanow boldly displayed a "conglomeration of contrasts" (Jewish Enc. XI: 71): "Though Orthodox in his beliefs, he nevertheless favored Reform in practice. He was one of the greatest authorities on Jewish tradition and lore, yet he was one of the most free-thinking of philosophers." For a more detailed discussion of this and other works by Satanow, see N. Rezler-Bersohn, "Isaac Satanow - An Epitome of an Era" [in:] Year Book XXV, Leo Baeck Institute (1980). For Emden in the present context, see M. L. Cohen, Jacob Emden, A Man of Controversy (Philadelphia: The Dropsie College, 1937), pp. 254ff. II. Sefer Igeret ha-Kodesh, Berlin, 553 [1793]. 7ff. Vinograd (Berlin) 415. Later edition of this well-known work. The celebrated talmudist and exegete, Nachmanides (the Ramban, Moses ben Nachman, ca. 1195-ca. 1270) acted as a conciliator between the parties in the early 13th-century controversies surrounding the philosophical and secular direction of Maimonides' growing influence. "After having given the earlier part of his life to his Talmudical works, Moses [Nachmanides] devoted himself to writing of a homiletic-exegetic and devotional character. To these belong the "Iggeret ha-Kodesh" and the "Torat ha-Adam." In the former, which deals with the holiness and significance of marriag.
