Physical Description

Only edition, octavo, 120 pp. 210:140 mm. nice margins, age staining, bound in contemporary boards, rubbed and taped.

Detailed  Description 

Rare edition of a Hebrew periodical published by R. Joseph Kohen-Zedek in 1874. There is a detailed pink book cover that informs that Or Torah is a periodical that illuminates the lands of Judah and Israel with the light of Torah and enumerates the varied sections of the journal, each with Or in its name. They are Torah Or, Or Hachamim, Or ha-Ganoz, Orot me-Ofel, Meorei Or, Or Hadash, and Or Yisrael. There is a brief title-page which states that states “Be diligent in the study of the Torah; And know how to answer an epicuros, And know before whom you toil, and that your employer is faithful, for He will pay you the reward of your labor.” (Avot 2:14). This is followed by a German title-page wich states that it is , and the Exegese, Kritik, Geshichte und Belletristik (Exegesis, Criticism, History and Fiction) and then a listing of the contents noted on the cover. The text follows of this multifaced journal.

R. Joseph Kohen-Zedek (1827–1903) was a Hebrew poet, writer, and publicist. Kohen-Zedek, who was born in LVOV, studied rabbinics with R. Solomon Kluger in Brody and R. S.J. Nathanson in Lvov. He first engaged – unsuccessfully – in business and then turned to literature and journalism. He published a number of collections of his patriotic poetry in honor of the Austro-Hungarian emperor – from whom he received a gold medal for art and science in 1851 – and an anthology of contemporary poetry dedicated to Moses Montefiore, Neveh Kehillah (1864).R.  Kohen-Zedek edited a number of more or less short-lived Hebrew periodicals: Meged Yeraḥim (4 issues, 1855–59), Oẓar Ḥokhmah (3 issues, 1859–65), Ha-Yehudi ha-Niẓḥi (4 issues, 1866), and Or Torah (4 issues, 1874). His weekly Ha-Mevasser, which included a literary supplement, Ha-Nesher, was the first Hebrew paper in Galicia (1861–66); some of the best Hebrew writers and scholars contributed to it. He himself wrote in a lively and original meliẓah style. Following a dispute with one of his associates which led to a denunciation, R. Kohen-Zedek had to leave Austria in 1868. He went first to Frankfurt on the Main, and in 1875 to London, where he served as preacher to immigrant congregations. In London he wrote a number of mainly homiletic works, including Elef Alfin, a thousand-word eulogy on Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler, each word beginning with alef. Of some scholarly importance are his Sefat Emet (1879), a polemic against Michael Rodkinson ; Ohole Shem: Tents of Shem, Being an Account of the Trial of Jacob and Isaac of the City of Madrid in the Year 5202 (1883), on blood libels; Divrei ha-Yamim le-Malkhei Ẓarefat (1859), an edition of R. Joseph ha-Kohen's chronicle with Kohen-Zedek's introduction; and Even Boḥan (1865), an annotated edition of R. Kalonymus ben Kalonymus' satirical work. His Biographical Sketches of Eminent Jewish Families (1897) is in English. Kohen-Zedek maintained a lively correspondence with the leading rabbis and scholars of his time. He has been called "the last publicist of the Galician Haskalah."

References