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Unusual grammatical work in German with Hebrew explaining the weekly Torah readings by Hermann (Zevi Hirsch) Freund of Prague, accompanied by an introduction by R. Solomon Judah Leib Katz Rappoport. The Hebrew title page states its purpose as so that all who study the Torah of Moses, young and adult, will understand. The text, which reads from left to right, is primarily on Bereshhit (1-166) and the remainder of the text, through 251) on Shemot through Devarim. The book concludes with an alphabetical index of the Hebrew terms explained. The preface by R. Rappaport is in Hebrew.
R. Rappaport was an Austrian rabbi and scholar; born at Lemberg June 1, 1790; died at Prague Oct. 16, 1867. Thrown upon his own resources about 1817, Rapoport became cashier of the meat-tax farmers. He had already given evidence of marked critical ability, though his writings previously published were of a light character—poems, translations, etc. His critical talent, however, soon revealed itself. In 1824 he wrote for "Bikkure ha'Ittim" an article on the independent Jewish tribes of Arabia and Abyssinia. Though this article gained him some recognition, a more permanent impression was made by his work on Saadia Gaon and his time (published in the same journal in 1829), the first of a series of biographical works on the medieval Jewish sages. Because of this work he received recognition in the scholarly world and gained many enthusiastic friends, especially S. D. Luzzatto.
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