By Rabbi Jedaiah ha-Penini Bedersi,
First English Edition. London 1806.
Hebrew with opposite page English.
Lacking additional Hebrew title page.
Copy of Elkan Nathan Adler.
Popular poetical and philosophical work on the vanity of worldly things by R. Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi (ha-Penini, c. 1270–1340). This edition is printed with the text of Behinat Olam in the middle of the page and in the inner margin the commentary Megadnot Eliezer by R. Eliezer ben Solomon Zalman Lissur, and in the outer margin the commentary of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller. The title page is dated from the verse, “an interpreter, one among a thousand, to declare to man what is right” (Job 33:23). The book has several approbations. This, the most famous of Jedaiah’s works, is also known as Shamayim la-Rom from its initial words, “The sky for height (shamayim la-rom) and the earth for depth” (Proverbs 25:3). It was written after the expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306, referred to in the book. Behinat Olam discusses the uncertainties of fortune and the correct path to be followed. Its great popularity is demonstrated by the fact that an other edition was printed elsewhere the same year. Behinat Olam is a lyrical, ethical monograph on the theme of the futility and vanity of this world, and the inestimably greater benefits of intellectual and religious pursuits. Behinat Olam, written in florid prose and rich in imagery, combines philosophic doctrine and religious fervor with a good measure of asceticism and pessimism. It has been translated into English (Behinat Olam or An Investigation of… Organization of the World, London, 1806), Latin, French, German, Polish, and Yiddish, and numerous commentaries have been written on it.
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