Bidspirit auction | Hishta’arut Melekh HaNegev im Melekh

Hishta’arut Melekh HaNegev im Melekh HaTzafon. First Edition, Amsterdam, 1737. Polemic. - Sefer Hishta’arut Melekh HaNegev im Melech HaTzafon, concerning the battle between the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination, “the northern one”  by Rabbi Jacob London. Only Edition. Amsterdam, 1737. Printed by Abraham Athias. At the beginning of the sefer appear important approbations, foremost among them that of Rabbi Eleazar Rokeach, author of Ma’aseh Rokeach on the Mishnah. The author, Rabbi Jacob Ḥazzan London, was born in the city of Wesel. In his youth he traveled with his family to London, where he became a cantor. Orphaned at the age of nine, he went to Frankfurt am Main, where he studied in the yeshivah of the Maharshal Shakh. After the great fire that struck the Frankfurt ghetto in 1711, he traveled to Lissa, where he married and taught Torah publicly. Later he moved to Prague, where he was appointed supervisor of teachers and examiner of students. The present work was written in an allegorical and literary style “to impart philosophical ethics to the people of his generation. Nevertheless, this sefer did not find favor with all the people of his era, since its commentary contains certain novel interpretations on the Bible and Talmudic literature, and it also mentions another work, Pegi‘at Ya‘akov” (M. S. Girondi, Toledot Gedolei Yisrael VeGeonei Italia, pp. 124–126). Rabbi Isaac Samuel Reggio (Yashar) also criticized this work (see: HaTorah VeHaPhilosophiah, p. 58). [5], 68 Leaves. 21.5 cm.