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Wessely, Naphtali Herz. Includes biography of author by David Friedrichsfeld : SHIRE TIF'ERET: HIBUR KOLEL SHISHAH HALAKIM

Lemberg, J. Schnayder, 1844

(FT) Hardcover, 8vo, 60, 84, 10, 90, 16, 108, 112, 120 pages, 6 parts in 1 volume, 19cm. In Hebrew. Vocalized text. Wessley (1725-1805) was a “Haskalah poet, linguist, and exegete. Wessely’s ancestors had fled Poland during the Chmielnicki pogroms and settled in Wesel on the Rhine, from where the family took its name. Born in Hamburg, Wessely spent his childhood in Copenhagen, where his father was a purveyor to the king of Denmark. He received his religious education at the yeshivah of Jonathan Eybeschuetz, who influenced him greatly, and read literature and scientific works in a number of European languages, Associated with the Feitel Bank, Wessely’s business affairs took him to Amsterdam and Berlin. In Berlin he met Moses Mendelssohn and contributed a commentary on Leviticus to the Biur. Wessely began his literary career with the Hebrew translation of the apocryphal work Wisdom of Solomon, to which he appended a brief commentary, later elaborated into a full-length exegesis, Ru’ah Hen. He pioneered in the revival of biblical Hebrew, and his translation, written in the vivid and lofty style of the Scriptures, prompted later Haskalah writers to translate apocryphal works into biblical Hebrew. The linguistic problems he encountered led to a number of philological works such as Gan Na’ul, a work on Hebrew synonyms and roots, and Yein Levanon, a commentary on the mishnaic tractate Avot, which also concentrates on linguistic aspects. While Wessely’s focus is often linguistic, his exegesis shows also wide knowledge and learning, and his commentaries were well received by orthodox scholarship. He is, however, mainly known as a poet – Shirei Tiferet is the major literary work of the German Haskalah – and as a pioneer in education and an advocate of the Enlightenment through his Divrei Shalom ve-Emet, a call in support of the Edict of Tolerance of Joseph II of Austria” (Barzilay in EJ, 2007). OCLC: 970833389. OCLC lists 5 copies worldwide (UCLA, Lib of Congress, JTS, Toronto, Brandeis) . Ex-library. Hinge repair. Stained pages. Wear and chipping to cover edges and spine. Bumped corners. Otherwise good condition. (Rab-40-25-E)

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