Rotterdam: Jan Daniel Beman, 1731. Third edition. Hardcover. 12mo. , 548pp. 44pp. plus 4 foldout copper engravings. Original full vellum with black lettering on spine. Half title-page with a series of engravings. In the larger engravings, Moses with the tablets dictating the Torah to a scribe writing on a scroll, while a boy holds on to the end of the scroll. The smaller engravings at the bottom have Abraham sacrificing Isaac, King David with his harp and a horned Moses with the tablets. Title-page with printer's emblem. Decorated initials. First published in German in 1603, Johannes Buxtorf the Elder's “Jewish Synagogue” is a guide to Jewish thought, culture and ritual observances. Buxtorf goes through Jewish daily practices such as the wearing of phylacteries, reciting prayers and the keeping of kosher as well as Jewish holidays such as the Sabbath, New Moon, High Holidays, Tabernacles, Passover and Purim. The work transliterates many Hebrew and Aramaic terms and offers translations of two Sabbath hymns. Buxtorf also gives a history of Jewish thought from biblical times to his day. In terms of sources, Buxtorf quoted extensively from the Old Testament and New Testaments, but also used classic rabbinic sources such as the Talmud and Midrashim as well as medieval and early modern sources such as Isaac Alfasi, Solomon Yarchi, Abraham ibn Ezra, David Kimchi, Bahya ben Asher, Judah the Pious' “Sefer Hasidim,” Isaac Aboab, Elias Levita's "Bovo-Bukh” and Joseph Kairo's "Shulchan Aruch.” Buxtorf also made use of kabbalistic explanations for various Jewish practices. Also includes a dialogue between a Jew and a Christian in which the Christian responds to the Jew's attacks on Christianity. Foreword for the Christian reader. Passage from Martin Luther on the Jews. Printed notes in the margins, giving sources and translations of terms. Foldout copper plate engravings showing the lifting up of the Torah in a synagogue, a Passover Seder, Jews parading with palm branches and citrons during Tabernacles and a bride and groom standing under a wedding canopy. While often hostile, Buxtorf's work stands as the most scholarly early modern Christian treatment of Jews and remained the chief source for Christian information on Jews through the Enlightenment. Text in Dutch with some Latin and Hebrew. Titles underneath engravings cut off. Binding and interior in overall very good condition. vg. Item #21201
Title-page information: "Uit hun eige Boeken en Schriften, merendeels den Christenen onbekend, grondig met aanwyzing van yder Boek, plaats en blad, verklaard. Eertyds tot nut der Christenen beschreven door M. Joannes Buxtorf, Opper-meester in de Hebreewsche spraak, tot Bazel. Op Nieuws overzien, en met Nieuwe kopere Platen door Jan Luyken verçierd. Hier agter is bygevoegt een Reden-Strydt tusschen een Jood en een Christen, waar in het Christen Geloof werd verdedigt. Derde druk. Te Rotterdam, by Jan Daniel Beman. M. D. C. C. XXXI."
Johannes Buxtorf the Elder was a 17th century Hebraist, who served as professor of Hebrew for thirty-nine years at Basel and known by the title "Master of the Rabbis." He was one of the most important Christian Hebraists of his day and was largely responsible for transforming Hebrew studies from an amateur hobby into an established academic discipline in the early seventeenth century. He was succeeded by his son Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, who also became a renowned professor.