Sermons and Eulogies with Autograph notes of the Author, Yedidiah Thia Weil, Karlsruhe: 1777-1798

369 leaves (13 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.; 335 x 210 mm) including 5 blanks [(8),1-155,(1),156-356,(4)] Written in brown ink on paper in eighteenth century Ashkenazic script in two hands with autograph manuscript notations of the author, Rabbi Yedidiah Thia Weil of Karlsruhe.  Browned through f.155; some dampstaining; tape repairs to first 16 leaves; occasional marginal tears, losses or ragged edges, however none affecting text. Contemporary half calf over decorated paper boards, worn; spine defective; covers loose.

David Sulzberg of Malsch- his note on f.299v; Jacob Abraham ben Shaul Michelski-Last Rabbi of Karlsruhe before the Holocaust- his note on verso of f.(vii); Abraham Joshua Koplik-Weber of Freiburg, Baden--his signature on free endpaper; Yosef Buxbaum, Director of "Machon Yerushalayim"--See Auerbach in Yeshurun 18 (2006), pp. 774-803.

N. Raphael Auerbach (ed.), 'Derush Hesped me-et ha-Gaon R. Yedidiah Tiah Weil Z.T.L', Yeshurun 18 (2006), pp. 774-803.

Yedidiah Thia Weil was born in Prague in 1721 to a prominent rabbinic family.  Weil's father, Rabbi Nethanel Weil is best known for his work Korban Netanel, a comprehensive gloss on the Talmud commentary of Asher ben Yehiel. In addition to his father's tutelage, Yedidiah studied under some of the most prominent rabbinic figures of the era including Jonathan Eybeschuetz in Metz and Ezekiel Landau in Prague. In 1770 Weil succeed his father as rabbi of Karlsruhe, a position he held for 36 years until his death in 1805. In concert with his rabbinic duties in Karlsruhe, Weil was Oberlandrabbiner in Baden and led a Talmudic academy which trained hundreds of students.

Spanning over two decades, this manuscript was written for Weil by a copyist working from his drafts. This copy was then reviewed by the author who in addition to occasional corrections and emendations, inserted subject headings in his own hand on every page of the manuscript.  The sermonic material provided here, most of which has never been published, is an exceptional testament not only to his rabbinic erudition but also a compelling historical document that provides a window into the world of German Jewry in the late eighteenth century.  Beginning in 1777 and continuing through 1798, Weil recorded his sermons for the two most important Sabbaths of the liturgical year, those which preceded Passover (Shabbat ha-Gadol) and Yom Kippur (Shabbat Teshuvah.) In addition to these, he included several discourses delivered on the eve of the New Moon (Erev Rosh Hodesh) in the months of Kislev and Elul.  Interwoven in the sermonic material are an array of contemporary observations made by the author. Writing in 1786, Weil describes the Parisian invention of hot-air balloons only a few years before. He demonstrates his familiarity with the distinctions between the theatrical forms of comedy and drama and between the vocal music of opera and instrumental symphonic concerts.

Of equal interest are the more than 40 eulogies which Thia Weil delivered during the second half of the period covered by this volume and which are likewise included here. The subjects of most of Weil's eulogies are prominent rabbis including the authors of important rabbinic works such as Aryeh Leib Gunzberg (Sha'agat Aryeh) and Weil's own teacher Ezekiel Landau (Noda bi-Yehuda). Many of the tributes provide not only elegiac material but also offer insight into the attitudes of this important rabbinic figure in matters affecting the Jewish community. In a eulogy for his brother-in-law, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Kassewitz, Weil bemoans the state of Jewish education in Germany where, instead of establishing communal schools, wealthy Jews hired private tutors for their own children leaving the poor with no Jewish education at all. Even those privileged few who received tutoring, Weil complains, develop no real interest in their studies, and abandon them after "fulfilling their obligation" by reading from the Torah on their Bar Mitzvah.

However the most poignant entry in the entire volume is the lengthy eulogy that Yedidiah Weil delivered at the erection of a tombstone for his wife of 44 years, Gitel.   His tearful words are written In florid Hebrew that reveals the writer to be not only a great orator eulogizing a pious woman but also a grieving husband coming to terms with the pain and emotion inherent in the loss of a spouse.

The present lot includes a facsimile of Yedidiah Thia Weil's "Rabbonusbrief" or articles of employment as Oberlandrabbiner dated 1770 and signed by dignitaries of the Jewish community. Also included is a manuscript sermon in a different hand dated 1851.

For a comprehensive list of the eulogies in this volume as well as a general survey of the contents, please inquire of the Books and Manuscripts department.