Detail Description

Ethical discourses on varied matters related to prayer, charity, and good deeds from R. Isaac ben Abraham called R. Isaac Ger, as well as a recounting of the author’s families’ conversion to Judaism. The title page states that Zera Yitzhak is based on the three things on which the world stands, that is, the pillar of Torah, the pillar of Avodah (prayer), and the pillar of Gemillot Hasidim (good deeds) (Pirkei Avot 1:2). The text brings many verses and ma’amre Hazal in support of and to explain each pillar according to the peshat (literal interpretation). The title page is dated “For it is not a vain thing לא דבר רק הוא (549 = 1789) for you; because it is your life” (Deuteronomy 32:47). It is followed by four pages of approbations and the author’s introduction and a list of errata. Foliation begins with the text, which is in two columns in rabbinic type excepting headers and initial words. The Proops’ printer’s mark appears on the title page and, in a different format, at the end of the book.

R. Isaac Ger (d. 1807) recounts his personal history in the introduction, informing that he was born in a distant land, likely Sweden, where no Jews are to be found, to a Christian family. His father was a minister of some status, who, discovering the truth of Judaism, forsook Christianity to become a Jew. As a result, R. Isaac Ger’s family was harassed and forced to flee, resettling in Amsterdam. R. Isaac Ger, who became a learned Jew, died at the age of 71.

 

Hebrew Description:    

... ובו שלשה עמודים עמוד התורה. ועמוד העבודה. ועמוד גמילות חסדים ... חברו ... יצחק בן אברהם הנקרא בפי כל ר' יצחק גר יצ"ו ...

הסכמות: ר' שאול [לעווענשטאם], אמשטרדם, ו אדר תקמ"ט; ר' דוד הכהן די אזיוידו, אמשטרדם, ב ויקרא תקמ"ט; ר' אריה ליב ברעסלא, ראטרדם, ד ניסן תקמ"ט; ר' אברהם יהודה ליב ממעזריטש, האג, כג ניסן תקמ"ט; ר' דוד די יצחק ליאון, האג, ח למב"י [כג ניסן] תקמ"ט.