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Bidding Information
Lot #    11440
Auction End Date    8/16/2005 1:29:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Melo Chofnajim
Title (Hebrew)    מלא חפנים
Author    [Only Ed. - Karaite] Dr. Abraham Geiger
City    Berlin
Publisher    Friedlaendersche Buchdruckerei
Publication Date    1840
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    Only edition. Portrait, VIII, 80, 104, LVI pp., 198:128 mm., wide margins, light age and damp staining. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    Abraham Geiger (1810–1874) was the foremost exponent of the Reform movement in Germany. He was the son of an old-established family in Frankfort, one of the leaders of the Reform movement in Judaism, and an outstanding scholar of Wissenschaft des Judentums. Geiger received a traditional education. His principal teacher was his elder brother, Solomon Geiger. He was also influenced by the teachings of R. B. W. Heidenheim. Subsequently, he began to study oriental languages and Greek, from 1829 in Heidelberg and then in Bonn. In Bonn Geiger became acquainted with his future Orthodox adversary Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, whom he greatly admired at the time, setting up in conjunction with him and several other young men a circle for developing the art of preaching. In 1832, Geiger became rabbi in Wiesbaden, where he took his first steps to introduce reform of the synagogue services, and began publication of the Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fuer juedische Theologie (6 vols. in 5, 1835–47), to which the most important Jewish scholars of his day contributed. In 1837 he convened the first meeting of Reform rabbis in Wiesbaden. In 1838, Geiger was chosen as dayyan and assistant rabbi by the Breslau community, but, owing to the strong opposition of its rabbi, R. Tiktin, Geiger was not able to take up his position until 1840. After Tiktin’s death in 1843, Geiger was accorded the rabbinate by the majority of the community, thus causing the Orthodox minority to secede. In Breslau Geiger established a school for religious studies and a group for study of Hebrew philology. Geiger was one of the most active participants in the Synods held by the Reform rabbis in Frankfort (1845) and Breslau (1846). He was among the initiators of the Juedisch-Theologisches Seminar in Breslau in 1854, but contrary to his wishes was not appointed its principal because of opposition from the conservatives. From 1863 Geiger served as rabbi of the Reform congregation in his hometown Frankfort, and from the beginning of 1870 was rabbi of the Berlin congregation; in 1872, the Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums was established in Berlin with his assistance and Geiger directed it until his death.

During his lifetime Geiger combined the work of a militant reforming theologian and a philologist-historian. He was active in all affairs of German Jewry of his time, while his scientific research ranged over almost every sphere of Judaism. Geiger valued prophecy in Judaism, and wished to maintain the feeling of Jewish continuity, but he was radically opposed to Orthodoxy which he regarded as ossified by nomism and lacking aesthetic forms to satisfy the cultured man. He aspired to lead Jewry to a form of assimilation which would both further fulfillment of the Jewish "mission" to spread rational faith in the One God and His moral law, and lead to a modification of the Jewish way of life and thinking. He was, therefore, interested, although he did not express this publicly, in abolishing every institution of Judaism in its existing form and constructing a new edifice upon its ruins. In order to attain this objective, Geiger concentrated his wide research on the history of the religion. The historiographical picture resulting from his work served the requirements of religious reform and civic emancipation.

In his desire to see Judaism solely as a religious community Geiger set out to eliminate from Judaism every mark of national uniqueness and of dissociation from the gentile nations. In 1845 he opposed prayer in Hebrew, which he further justified by the ignorance of the language among most worshipers. In the course of time his approach to religious reform became more moderate; while he omitted all reference to the Return to Zion from the prayer book which he brought out in 1854 for his community in Breslau, he retained Hebrew corresponding in its essentials with the original version alongside several prayers in German; but Geiger changed the German translation accompanying the prayers, in accordance with Reform spirit. In his last years his moderation became even greater; and in Berlin he reinstated celebration of the second day of the festivals, which he had abolished in Breslau. This change of outlook was actuated by two reasons: his wish to avoid a sudden split in Judaism, and his antagonism to Christianity. On these grounds, he did not agree to changing the Sabbath to Sunday, even though he permitted instrumental music on the Sabbath in synagogue and permitted several prohibited kinds of work on the Sabbath. These arguments also underlay Geiger's opposition to the abolition of circumcision, although he regarded it as "a barbaric act of bloodletting." Geiger's prayer book was the product of social and religious aims in conjunction with aesthetic considerations. He considerably shortened the order of prayer to enable worshipers to pray with devotion. He established prayers for rain in summer also, to suit conditions in Germany, and omitted portions from various prayers that he regarded as empty verbiage.

In his doctoral dissertation Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen (1833), Geiger demonstrated the influence of Jewish tradition upon the Koran. A prolific writer, Geiger's principal work was Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel... (1857; 1928), in which he correlates the history of the biblical translations with the history of the sects in Israel (particularly the Pharisees and Sadducees). Geiger summarized his historical view of Judaism in general in a series of popular lectures that he delivered in Frankfort, Das Judenthum und seine Geschichte (3 vols., 1865–71; Judaism and its History, 1865, 1911). Also important are Geiger's Lehr-und Lesebuch zur Sprache der Mischnah (1845); and Parschandatha; die nordfranzoesische Exegetenschule (1855).

          
Paragraph 2    לקוטים שונים מכתבי חכמי קדמוני עמנו לא נדפסו עד הנה. לקטם, הגיהם ... העתיקם ובארם ... אברהם גייגר ...

בשולי השער מדבקה: .Verlag von L. Fernbach jun לפני השער תמונת ר' יוסף שלמה דלמדיגו. עמ' VII-VI: שיר בשבח הספר, מאת ליזר לאנדסהוט. התוכן: א. מכתב אחוז, לר' יוסף שלמה דילמידיגו הרופא מקנדיאה. אגרת אל זרח מטרוקי הקראי. (עיין הערת שפ"ר בהמגיד, ח, 1864, עמ' 279, המטיל ספק ביחוסה של האגרת אל דלמדיגו). ב. הקדמת ספר התחכמוני [צ"ל: חכמוני], והוא פירוש על ספר יצירה מאת ר' שבתי דונולו הרופא. עם הערות "מחכם א' פולני". ג. תשובות לרש"י לשאילות על פירוש פסוקי ירמיה ויחזקאל ... אשר השיב ... לרבני אלצורא [Auxerre]. (עיין: תשובות רש"י, מהד' אלפנביין, ניו-יורק תש"ג, עמ' 6-1). ד. פזמון לשחרית של ראש השנה לר' יהודה הלוי. פותח: מי יתנני. עבד אלוה עשני. אוצר השירה והפיוט, ג, עמ' 121, מס' 1135. ה. מסתגאב לראש השנה, חברו הרמב"ן. פותח: מראש מקדמי עולמים. שם, עמ' 175, מס' 2286. עיין: כתבי רבינו משה בן נחמן, א, ירושלים תשכ"ג, עמ' שצב-שצד. במנהגים אחרים הוא פזמון ליום הכפורים. ו. אגרת אל תהי כאבותיך לאפודי (פריפוט דוראן). נדפס תחילה על ידי ר' יצחק עקריש, בתוך: אגרת אוגרת, [קושטאנדינא ש"ל בערך]. ז. "שיר לעג לבני רינוס, מן משורר שמו גופלין". פותח: גולים הולכי דרך. מבקשי מאכלם. אוצר השירה והפיוט, ב, עמ' 94, מס' 119. ח. חמש תשובות לר' משה בן מימון בל' ערבי ועברי [זו מול זו] עם הערות. נדפסו במהדורת שובות הרמב"ם, בעריכת י' בלאו, סי' קיט, קפד, קצה, רנד, רנו. יש טפסים שנוסף בהם שער-מעטפת: "ספר מלא חפנים; לקוטים מכתבי-יד להר"ר יש"ר מקנדיאה, רש"י, רמב"ם, אפודי ואחרים ...". בטפסים אלה עמ' 41 נסדר מחדש. תשעת העמודים 50-42, הכוללים סימן ו (אגרת אל תהי כאבותיך) הוחלפו בעמודים 11-3 מתוך "קונטרס דברים עתיקים" [א], לייפציג תר"ד, הכוללים "פתרון תשעים מלות בודדות לר' סעדי' גאון" עם הערות מאת י"ל דוקס, בהוצאת י"א בן-יעקב, אשר קנה את "כל הנמצא" מן הטפסים של "מלא חפנים". עי' בדברי הקדמתו ל"דברים עתיקים, קונטרס שני", לייפציג תר"ו, עמ' 4. בן-יעקב הוא שעשה החלפה זו, בשנת תר"ד, מחמת הצנזור ברוסיה. תשעת העמודים נדפסו כאן באותו סדר-אותיות שב"דברים עתיקים" אלא שהוחלפו מספרי העמודים. אך בעמוד האחרון נשאר מספר 11. כן לא הוחלפה רשימת התוכן שבראש הספר, עמ' VIII, ונשאר בה הציון לחיבור המקורי "אל תהי כאבותיך".

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0200027; EJ; Zeitlin post-Mendelssohnia pp. 108-09
        
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Other:    Austria
  
Subject
Other:    Karaite
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    German, Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica