Rare Letter from the Ksav V’HaKabbalah Against the Enlightenment Movement and Bible Critics; Circa 1840
Letter from Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, author of the famed Ksav VeHaKabbalah, dated 1840, addressed to Rabbi Chaim, Av Beis Din of Guttentag. This letter is adjoined to the first edition copy of his sefer Ksav VeHaKabbalah.
In his letter, the Ksav VeHaKabbalah explains the main purpose behind the publishing of his treatise Ksav VeHaKabbalah. He writes: "[The purpose of this sefer is] to humiliate and subdue those who are scholars in their eyes and speak derogatory… and spread libels about our rabbis, the Talmudic scholars… May the lips of falsehood, who speak against Chazal, be silenced…"
Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, the ‘Ksav VeHaKabbalah, ‘ (1785 – 1865), was a disciple of Rabbi Akiva Eiger and a leading German rabbi. He stood at the forefront of the war against the Jewish Enlightenment and Bible critics. The Ksav VeHaKabbalah authored a treatise titled ‘Ksav VeHaKabbalah’ with the goal of proving that both the Written and Oral Torah "correspond side by side." The Ksav VeHaKabbalah valiantly fought the great Reform Convention of 1850 which took place in Brunswick, alongside the Malbim.
The present first edition Ksav VeHaKabbalah, in which the author’s letter was adjoined, was published in Leipzig, 1839.
Letter: [1] Leaf | 18 x 12 cm | Good condition
Sefer Ksav VeHaKabbalah: [18], 371, [3] pages + [2] pages folded | Simple Binding | Good condition
