Subject: Bible. Old Testament

Book - "A DEFENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT,IN A SERIES OF LetterS TO THOMAS; PAINE"..CALLS "AGE OF REASON" ONE OF THE MOST VIOLENT AND; SYSTEMATIC ATTACKS ON THE WORD OF GOD THAT WAS EVER MADE.; 2nd EDITION...LISTS SUBSCRIBERS IN PA...NONE ARE JEWISH.....This is a reprint of the first edition, published in London in 1797....One of the first books by a Jewish author to be sold by a Jewish bookseller in America. There is also a 1798 NYC edition of the same book. David Levi responds to Thomas Paine's Age of Reason, which ridiculed the bible, and religion in general. For instance, Paine wrote that "it would be more consistent that we called [the Old Testament] the word of a demon, than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel." David Levi (1742-1801) was an English-Jewish writer, Hebraist, Jewish apologist, translator, and poet. Levi was born to poor immigrant parents who could not afford to educate him. He worked as a shoemaker, then as a hatter, then as a printer. He read voraciously in Jewish literature from ancient times to the present, as well as in Christian writings about Judaism and about the Bible. Self-educated, he realised how little both Jews and Christians in England knew about Judaism and resolved to explain and defend his faith. His first published work, A Succinct Account of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews (1782), tried to explain Judaism to Jews and to correct Christian misconceptions about Judaism. Next, he translating the prayer books of both the Ashkenazi and Spanish and Portuguese Jews. He supervised a translation of the Old Testament into English and published a Hebrew grammar and dictionary, and a guide to the Hebrew language. In 1786, Joseph Priestly published his Letter to the Jews (1786), urging them to convert. Levi published a lengthy answer, which led to many arguments with Christian divines. This led to his three-volume Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Old Testament (1793-1800), which he printed and published himself. It was republished in London in 1817 in two volumes. Levi's work was well known in Christian circles; his Dissertation on the Prophecies was accepted as authoritative by many scholars, both Jewish and Christian, well into the nineteenth century. His six-volume English translation of the liturgy served as the foundation for later editions published both in England and in the United States. His Protestant friend Henry Lemoine published an obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine (October 1801), "He's Gone! the Pride of Israel's Busy Tribe". It praised him as a great explainer and defender of Judaism against both Christians and skeptics. Levi was also poet in ordinary to the synagogue, and furnished odes when required on several public celebrations, as, for instance, on the king's escape from assassination in 1795 Levi (1742-1801), a self- taught Jew living in London, was almost single-handedly responsible for providing the English-speaking world with insights into Judaism previously accessible only to those versed in Hebrew. In addition to translating Hebrew texts and explicatingJewish rites, he also exercised his considerable talents in defending Judaism from attacks by writers including Spinoza, Voltaire, and Priestly, as well as Paine. For the American edition of his refutation of Paine's deism, Levi enlisted one of New York's leading Jewish citizens and one of the USA's first Jewish publishers and booksellers, Naphtali Judah. For sale by Meir Turner (NYC) 9.29/13 for $ 4,900.00

Two copies of "The Old Testament and Its Ethical Teaching," Papers for the Jewish People, No. XV. One copy is signed by P. Abrahams. Published in 1917.