Physical Description

Only edition, [13] pp., quarto, 195:160 mm. light age staining, wide margins. A fine copy bound in the original marbled paper wrappers.

Rare historical document.

Detail Description

Title:Gebeth, welches auf Anverlangen deren Aeltesten, und auf Gemeindeaeltesten der Prager Judenschaft / von dem Ober-Rabiner Ezechiel Lande, und denen Oberjuristen eigentlich componiret worden... und um... unserer allergnaedigsten Erb-Landes Fuerstinn u nd Frauen in denen oeffentlichen Synagogen zu bitten...

Prayers composed for synagogue recital for the recovery of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa (1717-80), and the thanksgiving prayer for after she recovered from her illness on June 17, 1767. Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. While she was a devout Roman Catholic and regarded both the Jews and Protestants as dangerous to the state and actively tried to suppress them. The empress was arguably the most anti-Semitic monarch of her time yet like many of her contemporaries, she supported Jewish commercial and industrial activity. Nevertheless R. Landau maintained a positive relationship with her and obtained many concession for his community.

Composed by R. Ezekiel Landau (1713-93), Chief Rabbi of Prague, halakhic authority of the 18th century, known as the Noda bi-Yhudah, after one of his works. R. Landau was born in Opatow, Poland, and received his talmudic education in Vladimir-Volinski and Brody. He was endowed with qualities which make him one of the most famous rabbis of the close of the classical Ashkenazi rabbinic era. He came from a wealthy and distinguished family tracing its descent back to Rashi. He had a commanding appearance and rare intellectual ability, was of strong character imbued with a love of truth and of his fellow men, and had considerable diplomatic skill. By nature he was an intellectual ascetic whose main interest lay in the study and teaching of Torah. In his time he was regarded as the prototype of the ideal Jew. At the age of 21 he was already dayyan of Brody, and at 30 rabbi of Yampol. From there he received a call in 1754 to become rabbi of Prague and the whole of Bohemia, one of the highest positions of that time. His famous proclamation of 1752, whose purpose was to put an end to the notorious Emden-Eybeschuetz controversy, which split the Jewish world into two, helped in no small measure in his obtaining this appointment. His tenure of the Prague rabbinate enabled Landau to give practical effect to his outstanding qualities. It afforded ample scope for his rabbinic and communal activity both in Prague itself and beyond. He acted as judge, teacher, and mentor of the community. In his capacity as rabbi of Bohemia, he represented the Jews before the Austrian government. In his great yeshivah, he taught hundreds of students, the cream of Jewish youth from Austria and surrounding countries.

Reference