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Derishat Ziyyon, R. Zevi Hirsch Kalischer, Jerusalem 1919

דרישת ציון - Zionism

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Details
  • Lot Number 50293
  • Title (English) Derishat Ziyyon
  • Title (Hebrew) דרישת ציון
  • Note First Edition - Zionism
  • Author R. Zevi Hirsch Kalischer
  • City Jerusalem
  • Publisher Samuel ha-Levi Zukerman
  • Publication Date 1919
  • Estimated Price - Low 200
  • Estimated Price - High 500

  • Item # 1616025
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description

Partial first edition. 69 ff., 222:143 mm., usual age staining. A very good copy bound in contemporary half cloth and marbled paper boards, rubbed.

 

Detail Description

Primary and highly influential work encouraging the return of the Jews to Zion by one of the first religious Zionists in Europe, R. Zevi Hirsch ben Solomon Kalischer. This volume, as the text details, contains not only the discourse Derishat Ziyyon, but also several additional discourses on the same theme by such luminaries as R. Nathan Friedland (Sefer Rishon Le-Ziyyon) and R. Zevi Pesah Frank (Kunteres Har Zevi). In Derishat Ziyyon Kalischer expounds at length his theory that redemption will come in two stages: the natural one, return to Erez Israel and labor, particularly agricultural, in the country, and the supernatural one to follow. The first stage would invigorate the yishuv and put it on a healthy economic foundation instead of its dependence upon donations from abroad (halukkah). In his program he did not ignore the unstable security situation (this argument was used against him mainly by the rabbis in Erez Israel), and he devoted one paragraph especially to the necessity of appointing guards trained for war and police duty. He also envisioned the establishment of an agricultural school for the younger generation. Derishat Ziyyon had a great influence on, inter alia, Moses Hess, who included portions of it in German translation in his book Rome and Jerusalem. It has been translated into German, and portions of it were translated into English and other languages.<p>R. Zevi Hirsch ben Solomon Kalischer (1795–1874) was a noted rabbi and harbinger of the Zionist idea. Born in Lissa (Leszno), Posen district, Kalischer studied under the great scholars of his day, R. Jacob of Lissa (Lorberbaum) and R. Akiva Eger. In 1824 he settled in Thorn, where he lived until his death, rejecting invitations from many communities to serve as their rabbi. Even in Thorn he served only as unpaid acting rabbi and lived off the meager income supplied by his wife's small business. He published books on halakhah (Even Bohan; Moznayim la-Mishpat, 1843–55) and on religious philosophy (Emunah Yesharah, 1843), and contributed to the Hebrew press for many years. (Before the existence of a regular Hebrew press, his articles were published in German translation in the German-Jewish press.) His major activity, however, throughout his life, was advocating the idea of settlement in Erez Israel. In his discussions with members of the Reform movement on the observance of religious precepts, the belief in the coming of the Messiah, the mitzvot connected with Erez Israel, etc., R. Kalischer revealed not only his strong attachment to religious tradition but also his preoccupation with the problems of the day.<p>As early as his meeting with Anschel Rothschild in 1836, Kalischer revealed his opinion that the redemption of Israel would not come, as had been believed for generations, through a miracle, that "suddenly God would come down from the heavens or suddenly send His messiah," but rather that salvation would be brought about by human endeavor. He stressed the idea that the natural redemption would serve as the first and main stage before the miraculous redemption at the end of days. His system initially included the observance of the mitzvot connected with Erez Israel, especially those of sacrifice, as basic steps toward the future redemption, but at a later stage he disregarded this element in his ideology. Following R. Judah Alkalai, he based his doctrine on the talmudic saying "It [the coming of the Messiah] depends solely on the return [to God]" (Sanh. 97b), interpreting the word "return" as return to Erez Israel. He based this interpretation on Tikkunei Zohar. Thus he introduced an active human element into the concept of the redemption of the Jewish people, in opposition to most of the Orthodox rabbis of the time, who objected to this interpretation and its practical implications. His urge to gather supporters for the return to Erez Israel was reinforced by the various national movements in Europe, which were specifically cited by R. Kalischer. Pointing to the struggles of European nations to achieve independence, R. Kalischer chastised his fellow Jews for being the only people without such an aspiration. Practical activities for the settlement in Erez Israel did not come into being until 1860, when Hayyim Lorje established the first society for this purpose in Frankfort on the Oder and R. Kalischer supported it. The society did not last long, basically because of the eccentric personality of its leader, but it did manage to publish R. Kalischer's book Derishat Ziyyon (1862), which for many years served as the basic book to explain the idea of the return to Erez Israel to Orthodox groups.<p>R. Natan Friedland (1808–1883) was a precursor of the Hibbat Zion movement. Born in Taurage, Lithuania, Friedland studied in various Lithuanian yeshivot. The Damascus Affair (1840) made a deep impression on him. He believed that the redemption of the Jewish people could be realized gradually, as a natural process, and periods of liberalism and progress should be used to achieve this. The miraculous redemption would ultimately occur with the arrival of the Messiah. R. Friedland was unaware that some of his contemporaries held similar views (e.g., R. Judah Alkalai), and he spread his ideas verbally in Belorussia, Lithuania, and Germany, where he met R. Zevi Kalischer. In 1859 he published two parts of his work Kos Yeshu'ah u-Nehamah ("Cup of Salvation and Comfort"), in which he expounded his theories. Friedland met Adolphe CrMmieux and Albert Cohen in Paris, and presented petitions from R. Kalischer and himself to Napoleon III, who granted him an audience. R. Friedland published a new edition of R. Kalischer's work Derishat Ziyyon, adding his own notes and essays. R. Friedland was an emissary of Hevrah le-Yishuv Erez Israel ("Society for the Settlement of Erez Israel"), established by Kalischer, and collected funds for it in Germany.<p>R. Zevi Pesah Frank (1873–1960) was chief rabbi of Jerusalem and halakhic authority. R. Frank studied under Eliezer Gordon at Telz and under Isaac Rabinowitz at Slobodka. He attended the musar discourses of Israel Lipkin of Salant. In 1893 he proceeded to Jerusalem where he continued his studies at the yeshivot of Ez Hayyim and Torat Hayyim. He acquired an outstanding reputation, combining a profound knowledge of the Talmud with sound common sense. Despite his youth, he was encouraged by R. Samuel Salant, the rabbi of Jerusalem, who consulted with him in his halakhic decisions. Rabbi A. I. Kook had already taken up his appointment there, and later he and R. Frank associated in the efforts to establish the rabbinate of Israel.

 

Hebrew Description

... ונלוה עמו ספר ראשון לציון... וראה זה חדש קונטרס הר צבי מו"מ של הלכה... א) אם אפשר להקריב קרבנות בזה"ז. ב) אם אפשר לכוין מקום המזבח. ג) שו"ת [שאלה ותשובה] בענין גידולי הר הבית אם המה מותרים (באכילה)... מאת... ר’ צבי פסח פרנק דומ"ץ פעה"ק (ירושלם)... ועוד קונטרס "סמיכת זקנים" על דבר שאלת הסמיכה בזה"ז והצעות (הקמת סנהדרין ... לייסד ישיבה גדולה בירושלם)... מאת המו"ל... יעקב יוסף במוה"ר יצחק הלוי דזימיטראווסקי מלפנים רב בעקרון באה"ק ובעיר לארנעס מאסס. באה"ב.

דף [א,ב-ב] הקדמה מאת המו"ל.

דף מז-סו: קונטרס הר צבי.

דף סו,ב-סט: קונטרס סמיכת זקנים.

 

Reference:

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000161409; EJ; A. Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea (1960), 108–14; A. I. Bromberg, Ha-Rav Z. H. Kalischer (1960)