Auction 1 - Rare Hebrew Books, Manuscripts & Rabbinic Letters
Lot 55:
Description
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888)
The first edition of R. Samson Raphael Hirsch’s monumental commentary on the Pentateuch, published over the course of eleven years and representing the fullest expression of the Torah philosophy that transformed nineteenth-century German Orthodoxy. Rather than merely translating the biblical text, R. Hirsch crafted a commentary in which translation itself became interpretation: every lexical choice reflects his conviction that the precision of the Hebrew language, understood through the prism of Chazal, reveals the Torah’s enduring religious, ethical, and philosophical message.
Written in literary German for an educated Jewish readership, the commentary demonstrated that uncompromising fidelity to the mesorah could engage confidently with the intellectual culture of modern Europe. Hirsch’s distinctive method -combining close linguistic analysis with halachic exposition and philosophical insight- gave rise to what later scholars would recognize as a distinctly Hirschean approach to biblical interpretation. Appearing volume by volume between 1867 and 1878, the completed set quickly assumed its place as the definitive literary expression of R. Hirsch’s worldview and remains one of the most influential Torah commentaries of the modern era.
Five volumes. Original publisher’s bindings. A clean, well-preserved set, free of ownership inscriptions or annotations. an especially attractive copy in its original bindings.
Opening price: $1000
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