First edition of a classic commentary on the laws of Sukkah and Lulav by R. Jacob ben Aaron Ettlinger. Subsequent editions of this important work, with one exception, are always printed together with R. Ettlinger’s Arukh la-Ner, making this stand alone edition particularly rare. The title page informs that the author has collected all the laws pertaining to Sukkah and Lulav from halakhic works and from responsa, from rishonim and ahronim, and organized them and added as appropriate to provide a comprehensive and well ordered work for the reader. It is dated with the verse, “the first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring [into the house of the Lord your God]” (Exodus 23:19, 34:26). The verso has R. Ettlinger’s introduction followed by the text. The text is in two columns, the inner the text of the Shulhan Arukh, the left, that of Bikkurei Ya’akov. As suggested by the title page, this is a comprehensive work on the halakhot pertaining to the festioval of Sukkot.

R. Jacob b. Aaron Ettlinger (1798–1871), German rabbi and champion of neo-Orthodoxy. After receiving preliminary instruction from his father, Klausrabbiner in Karlsruhe, R. Jacob continued his studies under three eminent rabbis: R. Asher Wallerstein, R. Abraham Bing, and R. Wolf Hamburger. He was one of the first Jews admitted to the University of Wuerzburg, but was forced to leave because of an anti-Semitic outbreak. In 1826, he was appointed Kreisrabbiner (“district rabbi”) for the districts of Ladenburg and Ingolstadt and settled in Mannheim, where he founded a yeshiva that attracted numerous students including R. Samson Raphael Hirsch. Ten years later, he was appointed chief rabbi of Altona, a post which he retained until his death. The yeshivah which he established in that city was attended by R. Israel (Azriel) Hildesheimer.

An unswerving traditionalist. R. Ettlinger reacted to the conference of Reform rabbis in Brunswick (1844) by rallying many of his colleagues in protest against what they considered the gravest threat to Judaism's future. A notable result of this move was Ettlinger's decision to publish works reflecting the stand of Jewish Orthodoxy, among them his pamphlet, Shelomei Emunei Yisrael, and Der Zionswaechter, a journal of traditionalist thought, with a Hebrew supplement, Shomer Ziyyon ha-Ne'eman, edited by S. J. Enoch (1845). He was the last rabbi to preside over the Altona bet din before its jurisdiction in civil matters was revoked by the Danish authorities in 1863. In the following year, Denmark ceded Altona with Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia and R. Ettlinger made such a favorable impression on the Prussian king, William, during his visit to Altona in 1865, that the rights previously enjoyed by the Jewish community under the Danes were reconfirmed by royal decree. An outstanding halakhist, R. Ettlinger published the following works (all printed at Altona, unless otherwise indicated): Bikkurei Ya'akov, on the laws concerning the festival of Tabernacles (1836; 2nd ed. with the addition Tosefot Bikkurim, 1858); Arukh la-Ner, glosses on various talmudic treatises (on Yevamot 1850; on Sukkah 1858; on Niddah 1864; on Rosh Ha-Shanah and Sanhedrin, Warsaw, 1873); Binyan Ziyyon, responsa (1868), and its sequel, She'elot u-Teshuvot Binyan Ziyyon ha-Hadashot (Vilna, 1874), Minhat Ani, homilies (1874) and a number of sermons in German. A collection of his articles and addresses was published by L. M. Bamberger (Schildberg, 1899). Through R. Hirsch and R. Hildesheimer, R. Ettlinger exerted an incalculable influence on the course of neo-Orthodoxy in Germany. His great modesty is reflected in his will which stipulates that only the barest details be inscribed on his tombstone.

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