Physical
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Only edition. [2], i-ii, 3-104, [1] pp., quarto, 225:150 mm., wide margins, light age staining, stamps. A very good copy bound in modern boards.
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Detailed
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Historical work on Jewish history and anti-Semitism by Schwabacher. The full title is Von Heliopolis nach Berlin, oder: Die verwandtschaft ferner jahrhunderte. Eine historisch-kritisch parallele (From Heliopolis to Berlin, or: The relationship furthermore centuries. A historical-critical parallel). There is an introduction from the author followed by the text, which is accompanied by occasional footnotes. The final page is errata. Von Heliopolis nach Berlin is set in Fraktur.
R. Simeon Leon (Aryeh) von Schwabacher (1819–1888), rabbi and preacher. Born in Oberndorf, Wuerttemberg, Germany, Schwabacher served as rabbi and preacher in Prague, Hamburg, Landsberg, and Schwerin. Later he went to Lemberg (1856–60) to act as preacher of the "enlightened" congregation, and in 1860 he was invited by the maskilim of Odessa, with the support of the governor of the town, Count Stroganov, to act as kazyonny ravvin. His sermons in German made him well known; he published several works of homiletics, introduced new practices into the Great Synagogue of the town such as a choir, and concerned himself with the organization of modern relief activities for the poor. He also established the vocational school Trud, a mutual aid society of Jewish shop clerks, a soup kitchen, an orphanage, and an old-age home. His ignorance of Yiddish constituted a barrier between him and the masses and with the rise of a Russian-speaking class of maskilim, his influence with the Jewish intellegentsia also declined. His opposition to Hibbat Zion also caused him to lose popularity within the community, and in 1887 Schwabacher was removed from his rabbinical office. During his 27 years as rabbi he made an important contribution to the shaping of the character of the Odessa community as the first modern community in Russia. |
