Torat Ha'elohim. The Law of God. (First Translation of the Five Book of Moses into English by a Jew)

by LEESER, Isaac

First edition

Price: $28,500.00
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Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1845. First edition. Cloth. Very Good. (BIBLE) LEESER, Isaac. The Law of God. Edited and with Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. Philadelphia: Printed by C. Sherman, for the editor, 5605 (1845). Hebrew and English text. Five volumes. Tall octavo, modern burgundy buckram. Includes custom clamshell box. FIRST EDITION of the "first English translation of the Pentateuch in America," the 1845 Hebrew Bible, by one of the most prominent and influential figures in American Jewish history. Named hazan of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia in 1829, Leeser transformed a "haphazardly growing American Jewish community" into the most significant pioneer congregation in the country. The publication of his Pentateuch was the first time that any portion of the Bible was published in America under Jewish auspices. "The translation of the Bible was Leeser's great literary achievement and represented many years of patient labor and devotion to a task which he considered sacred..." He made good use of the various German translations by Jews. His translation, though based in style upon the King James version, can be considered an independent work, for the changes he produced are numerous and great. Until the new Jewish Publication Society version was issued in 1917, it was the only source from which many Jews not conversant with Hebrew derived their knowledge of the Bible in accordance with Jewish tradition. References:Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature, 1090. Rosenbach 569. Wolf and Whiteman, The History of the Jews of Philadelphia, 373.

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