DERASHOT (DISQUISITIONS ON JEWISH PHILOSOPHY), RABBI NISSIM GERONDI, [CONSTANTINOPLE: GERSHOM SONCINO, CA. 1533]

The first edition of a significant tract of Jewish thought, with distinguished American Jewish provenance.

Rabbi Nissim Gerondi (ca. 1310-ca. 1375) was an important Spanish Talmudist who spent much of his adult life in Barcelona, there absorbing the legal-intellectual heritage of Rabbis Moses Nahmanides, Aaron ha-Levi, and Solomon ben Abraham Adret. As head of the city’s yeshiva, his reputation spread widely and his halakhic opinions were sought from communities as far away as the Holy Land and Syria. Among his most important disciples were Rabbis Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, Hasdai Crescas, Joseph Habiba, and Abraham ha-Levi Tamakh. Gerondi is best known for his commentaries on the Talmud and on the legal rulings of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi, but he also penned responsa, a commentary on the Pentateuch, liturgical poetry, and the present work, a collection of twelve sermons on aspects of Jewish thought and political philosophy. This copy comes from the collection of Adolph Lewisohn (1849-1938), a German Jewish immigrant to the United States who became a successful investment banker, patron of the arts, and collector of rare books and manuscripts.