First Aleph-Beis book Printed in Eretz Yisroel
Derech Hayashar
La-Yeladim
Jerusalem, 1862
Derech Hayashar La-Yeladim (for Children) First and Only Edition Jerusalem, 1862
First Aleph-Beis book for children printed in Eretz Yisroel.
This book was created by Rabbi Nechemia Mizrahi to teach aleph-beis to Persian-speaking children from Dagestan, a Russian province in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe along the Caspian Sea.
In the preface, the author Rabbi Nechemia Mizrahi notes that his fellow Jews in Dagestan were gravely ignorant of lashon hakodesh, and that sadly, there were actually grown men who didn’t know even a single Hebrew letter! The lack of Hebrew language skills was most conspicuous among adolescents, and Mizrahi thus took it upon himself to travel to Jerusalem to print this work in order to teach lashon hakodesh to the Persian and Caucasian Jewish communities.
This book is exceedingly rare! It is assumed that the author took all copies of the book with him back to Persia, and over the years, these copies were used extensively and eventually disposed of due to wear and tear.
Derech Hayashar Layeladim includes an aleph-beis chart with nekudos; a Hebrew-Persian dictionary; reading paragraphs; sections of prayers; and lessons in mussar for adolescents both in Hebrew and Persian.
The National Library possesses a single copy missing 2 pages. This copy is complete and in good condition.
Jerusalem, 1862. Singular edition. Yisrael Beck Press. 28 leaves.
Page size: 17 cm. New leather binding. Complete copy!
Provenance: William Gross Collection, Tel aviv
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