21:37:28


[Login]   
[Book List]  
 
Bidding Information
Lot #    4936
Auction End Date    6/25/2003 12:52:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    The Old Paths
Author    [First Edition] Alexander McCaul
City    London
Publisher    Duncan
Publication Date    1837
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    viii, 240 p., quarto, 225:144 mm., light browning, loose in the original cloth boards, split.
          
Paragraph 1    First edition.
          
Detailed
Description		    McCaul's, the British missionary, critique of Judaism . In response, Isaac Baer Levinsohn wrote Zerubbavel, which appeared in an incomplete form in Odessa in 1863, and later in several complete editions. Levinsohn demonstrates McCaul's ignorance and the unfairness of his attacks on Judaism. He explains the evolution of the Oral Law from the Written Law, pointing out that in the course of this development reforms have been introduced in accordance with the changing needs of the times. Levinsohn insisted that only the halakhic ("legal") and not the aggadic ("legendary") elements of the tradition are binding for the observant Jew. Unlike Christianity, which is restricted to the spheres of faith and ethics, Judaism encompasses all spheres of individual and public life, and its aim is the strengthening of Jewish society: "The survival of the nation is the greatest of all the commandments." The book served to modify the hostile views about the Talmud and rabbinical literature which were often held by the followers of the Haskalah. Since Zerubbavel was intended for publication, Levinsohn phrased his remarks cautiously, so that the book could pass the censor. At the same time he wrote another work containing the rest of his arguments against Christianity. This manuscript was published after his death under the title of Ahiyyah ha-Shiloni ha-Hozeh ("Ahijah the Shilonite, the Prophet," 1863). Here Levinsohn condemns the Christians for their persecution of the Jews, and their intolerance toward members of other faiths and various Christian sects, despite the Christian doctrine of forgiveness. As Christians did not carry out the Christian precepts of love, how can they demand that the Jews become Christians? He compares the sobriety and normal family life prevailing among the Jews, with the higher rate of alcoholism among non-Jews. "All these virtues have come to us from the Talmud." He uses the arguments of Maimonides and others to show that whatever is positive in the New Testament is of rabbinic origin. Jesus himself, he argues, was an observant Jew who fulfilled all the commandments and believed that the Jews are the "chosen people."
          
Reference
Description		    Roth, Magna p. 295, # 126; EJ
        
Associated Images
2 Images (Click thumbnail to view full size image):
  Order   Image   Caption
  1   Click to view full size  
  
  2   Click to view full size  
  
  
Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
England:    Checked
  
Subject
Customs:    Checked
History:    Checked
Polemics:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    English
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica