Rules Orphan Society, Burial Society, Fuerth 1768
תקנות מהחברה קדושה מגדלי יתומים - First Edition
- Sold Winning Bid: $750.00 Reserve Price Met
- 8 Bid(s) View Bid History
- Lot Number 51339
- Title (English) Rules Orphan Society
- Title (Hebrew) תקנות מהחברה קדושה מגדלי יתומים
- Note First Edition
- Author Burial Society
- City Fuerth
- Publisher דפוס איצק בן ליב ב"ב [בוכבינדר]
- Publication Date 1768
- Estimated Price - Low 500
- Estimated Price - High 1,000
- Item # 1921525
- End Date
- Start Date
Physical Description
First edition, [16] ff., octavo, 153:94 mm., wide margins, light age staining. A very good copy bound in modern cloth over boards.
Detail Description
Rules and regulations of the orphan society organized by the Burial Society of Fuerth founded in 1763. Communal concern for orphaned children has deep roots in Jewish tradition, and numerous biblical commandments stress the importance of providing for them. Along with the widow (almanah), resident alien (ger), and Levite (Levi), orphans are to be protected and treated with justice and compassion (Deut. 16:11 and 14; 24:19–21; 26:12–13). Psalm 68:6 describes God as a "father of the fatherless."
Rabbinic Judaism reinforced the individual and communal obligation to meet the needs of orphans. "Whoever brings up an orphan in his home," Sanhedrin 19b states, "it is as though he had begotten him." According to Ketubbot 50a, a man who brings up an orphan boy or orphan girl in his house and enables them to marry, is performing righteousness at all times. The rabbis considered the community responsible for supporting impoverished orphans, including educating them and preparing them for marriage.
In the case of impoverished orphan children whose father left little or no property, the Talmud holds the community responsible for their support, for marrying them off, and for providing them with the means to live economically independent lives. Communal funds were to be used to rent and furnish a house for a young man, and to fit out a girl with clothing and a minimum dowry. If the communal funds were low, the orphan girl was given priority over the boy. If the community chest could afford to do so, the provisions provided for the orphan were made in accordance with his social position and the former manner of life to which he had been accustomed (M. Ket. 6:5 and tb Ket. 67b).
Hebrew Description
עברית ויידיש, מעורבים.
פד תקנות. בתוכן "סדר הלימוד" (של היתומים), "תקנות חדשות שייכן לבה"כ דבה"מ [לבית הכנסת דבית המדרש] דמגדלי יתומים".
בסוף: "נעשה ונגמר יום ב כה מנחם [אב] והיא ת’צ’ל’ח’ לפ"ק".
Reference
Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000333402; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (rep. 1969); S. Baron, The Jewish Community (1942)