Physical
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[2], 4-120; [3 of 4], 90, [1 of 2] ff. quarto 215:170 mm., usual light age staining, nice margins, stamps. Good copies bound in later cloth boards, rubbed. Initial work lack ff. 2-3.
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Detailed
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Two independent works, the first Afikei Yehudah by R. Judah Leib ben Moses ha-Levi Adler (d. 1827), the second Kol Omer Kera by R. Joseph Hayyim ben Isaac Caro. Afikei Yehudah is twenty-four discourses on varied subjects. The title pages describes it as going out from the waters of Judah, and the title of many of the discourses have titles or subjects related to water. Among the subjects, cleverly named, are Poter Mayim, Nahal Kadomim, Mayim Ne’amanim, Mei Noah, Mei Sheloah, Emek ha-Bekhah, Mikvah Mayim,Mei Hataos, Nahal Mizraim, Mayim Kedoshim, and Mei Maribah. The text is in two columns in rabbinic letters.
The second work is Kol Omer Kera (Part I) by R. Joseph Hayyim ben Isaac Caro. Kol Omer Kera is sermons on the Sabbath and festivals in the classic rabbinic manner. Written in a lucid style, it reveals his fervent faith. R. Caro does not hesitate fearlessly to rebuke his congregation for their failings. R. Caro (1800–1895) was born in Slupca, where his grandfather was rabbi and his father dayyan, and studied under R. Akiva Eger. After holding the post of rabbi in a number of towns in the Poznan district, he was appointed in 1859 to Wloclawek. He had a good knowledge of German literature and preached in the language, often quoting from the German classics. He also spoke Hebrew fluently – unusual attainments in those days for a rabbi of unswerving orthodoxy. He even gave endorsements to works by maskilim. R. Caro associated himself with the activities of R. Zevi Hirsch Kalischer and R. Elijah Gutmacher in behalf of settlement in Erez Israel, and warmly praised those who worked toward that end. In 1872, on the occasion of his golden wedding anniversary, he was the recipient of a gift from Kaiser William I. His sons were Jacob Caro, professor of history in Breslau and Ezekiel Caro, rabbi of Lemberg. His works also include Yoreh u-Malkosh (1894), funeral orations; Minhat Shabbat (1847), containing two commentaries on Avot; and Tevah ve-Hakhen (1859), on Shehitah. |
