2
Lot 122:
Isaac Leeser
The historical background of the various faiths and cults in the United States, edited by I. Daniel Rupp. Philadelphia. 1844. 734 pp.
One article, spanning 20 pages about the history of Jews in the United States, was written by R. Isaac Leeser. R. Isaac Leeser was born in Germany in 1808, and received his early education there. His teachers were R. Benjamin Cohen and later R. Avraham Sutro, one of the leading fighters against Reform Jewry. He received his general education in the Münster gymnasium. In 1824 he emigrated to America to work for his uncle in Richmond, Virginia. When he came to realize the true nature of the reform movement in America, he fought against it. He wrote articles in the defense of traditional Judaism and against the Reform movement. In 1825, he was invited to serve as Cantor of the Sephardi community ‘Mikveh Israel’ in Philadelphia, and in 1829 was appointed its spiritual leader. He was the first European-born American rabbi to deliver his sermons in English, so he could establish a rapport with the young generation whose knew little of Judaism. He published a Jewish English periodical with articles on Jewish topics called ‘The Occident.’ He also established a Hebrew printing press and printed a children’s’ book on the Hebrew alphabet. He published the first Bible and Siddur with an English translation in America, which over time came to be considered the most reliable. He fought his whole life to arrest the spread of the Reform which threatened to overtake America. While he was primarily connected with the Sephardic community, his influence was felt over the whole country, and his contribution to American Jewry is enormous. He passed away in 1868.
In very good condition, in its original, restored leather binding.
Singerman 855.
Share this lot:
