Physical Description

First edition, quarto, 164, [3] ff. 210:140 mm., nice margins, light damp & age staining. A good copy bound in later boards, rubbed.

Detail Description

First edition of these biblical parables by the renowned Dubno maggid, R. Jacob ben Wolf Kranz. There are approbations from R. Sshimon Sofer, R. Israel Katz Rappaport. R. Abrham Yanner, and R. Abraham Meir Grever. At the end are several pages of the individuals who supported publication. Mishlei Ya’akov is a delightful book of parables on the weekly Torah reading.

R. Jacob ben Wolf Kranz (1741-1804) known as the Dubno maggid was a Lithuanian (Belarus)-born preacher (maggid). He is famous for his fables or parables designed to teach or illustrate an instructive lessons based on Jewish tradition. The most famous fable of the Dubner Maggid is about the way in which he was able to find such fitting fables. When asked about this the Maggid replied: Once I was walking in the forest, and saw tree after tree with a target drawn on it, and at the center of each target an arrow. I then came upon a little boy with a bow in his hand. "Are you the one who shot all these arrows?”, I asked. "Yes!" he replied. "Then how did you always hit the center of the target?" I asked. "Simple", said the boy, "first I shoot the arrow, then I draw the target.” The maggid was born at Zietil (Yiddish זשעטל Zhetl)(now Dzyatlava), (then Lithuania now Belarus) in about 1740 and died at Zamość on 18 December 1804. At the age of eighteen he went to Międzyrzec Podlaski (Meseritz), where he occupied the position of preacher. He stayed there for two years, and then became preacher successively at Zolkiev, Dubno, Włodawa (Lublin]] region), Kalisch, and Zamość. He remained at Dubno eighteen years and is best known for being the Rabbi here. He left Dubno for Vilnius at the request of the famous R. Elijah Wilna (Gr”a), who, having recently recovered from a sickness and being unable to study, sought diversion in his conversation. R. Kranz was considered to be unrivalled preacher. Possessed of great eloquence, he illustrated both his sermons and his homiletic commentaries with parables taken from human life. By such parables he explained the most difficult passages of the Tanakh, and cleared up many perplexing questions in Halakha. He was also an eminent rabbinical scholar, and on many occasions was consulted as an authority. Confronted with imposters there were several tests that Kranz would go through to prove he was the true Maggid, opening the Tanakh at random, and inventing parables on the spot.

Hebrew Description

ספר משלי יעקב / מאת ... מו"ה יעקב דובנא... לקטתי ... כל המשלים ... משה ניסבוים ...

References