ABRIDGED SCHOOL AND FAMILY BIBLE IN HEBREW AND ENGLISH […] AND APOCRYPHA, ELABORATED BY JACOB LEVI LEVINSKI, NEW YORK: L. H. FRANK & CO., 1869-1871

The first abridged Hebrew Bible.

The present lot is the product of a partnership between Jacob Levi Levinski and Henry Vidaver (1833-1882), rabbi of New York’s B’nai Jeshurun synagogue, as well as “Other Hebrew Theologians.” In the introduction, Levinski explains that the high cost of a complete Hebrew Bible translated into English, coupled with the book’s length and the fact that certain passages are simply “improper to be read by the daughters of Israel,” induced him to abridge and rearrange the Hebrew Scriptures for the benefit of Jewish schoolchildren who could thereby gain greater familiarity with the central text of their faith. Interestingly, the compiler felt it important to include both canonical and apocryphal books of the Bible in the curriculum of a Jewish pupil.