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Bidding Information
Lot #    10572
Auction End Date    5/24/2005 12:15:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Ha-Mafte'ah
Title (Hebrew)    המפתח
Author    [Polemic - Only Ed.] Moses Aaron Shatzkes
City    Warsaw
Publisher    Ch. Kelter i Spolki; F. Baumriter
Publication Date    1866-69
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    First edition. Two volumes, 228:140 mm., usual light age staining, stamps. A very good copy not bound.
          
Detailed
Description		    The book analyzes talmudic legends, starting from the premise that they are merely ethical allegories, not to be taken literally. This theory, acceptable to the moderates of the Haskalah movement, was anathema to Orthodox Jews, who tried to prevent publication of the book, and in some towns even burned copies.

Moses Aaron Shatzkes (1825–1899), Hebrew writer. Born in Karlin, Belorussia, he studied in Lithuanian yeshivot, and then joined the Haskalah movement. He gained a literary reputation through his book Ha-Mafte'ah ("The Key," 1869). Shatzkes wrote articles in the same vein (Ha-Asif, 2 (1885), 241–61; Ha-Sifrut, 3 (1889/90), 103–18; and others). In Yiddish he published anonymously Der Yudisher for Pesakh ("Preparations for Passover," 1881) in which he attacked superstitions associated with the Passover festival. Toward the end of his life, he moved to Kiev, where he became a leading figure in the Haskalah circle noted for his pungently witty conversation.

          
Paragraph 2    לפתוח בו את שערי היכלי אגדות חז"ל (ברכות-עוקצין [עם הפנים])... להוציא... את... הנמשל... את הפתרון והבאור... לגלות אוצרות חשך... ממני משה אהרן בר' יהושע העשיל ז"ל שאצקעס, נין ונכד להרב... ר' שמואל ז"ל אב"ד דק"ק קארלין... מחברת [א]-ב.

שער נוסף לכל מחברת: Hamafteach, oder der Schluessel, zum labyrinth der aeussert raethselhaften Sagen unserer Weisen... von M. A. Schatzkes, aus Karlin in Russland. בקורת על הספר: ישראל דוד מילר, מלחמת סופרים, ווילנא תרל"א; אברהם דוב דובזוויץ, לא דבים ולא יער, ברדיטשוב תר"ן.

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0304348; EJ
        
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
Polemics:    Checked
Other:    Haskalah
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica