Abraham

Best.-Nr. 37867 — Warsaw: NP n.d. Softcover. g. Octavo. 4 page folded pamphlet. Orange label with black text tipped on the cover titled "Objasnienie" Explanation. The publication offers an explanation of Genesis 49:1 in which Jacob offers his sons a prediction of the end. Basing himself on the 15th century biblical commentator Isaac Abarbanel R. Abraham Kupfersztoch's father took each letter from the verse and produced a prophecy about a world war in which the Russians English Serbians French Italians and Romanians fight against Germany and Turkey. Germany would invade and defeat Russia Poland would gain its independence and the Jews would return to Israel. This process was done in a similar fashion to modern day biblical interpretations known as the "Bible Code". This brand of apocalyptic prophecy was influenced by Abarbanel who read Daniel as predicting an apocalyptic war between Christians and Muslims. Kupfersztoch's prediction was made in 1905 and it appeared to be on its way to fulfillment with the beginning of World War I. His empathy for Polish nationalists is quite striking as it goes against the common view of Polish-Jewish relations as being uniformly negative. Text in Hebrew and Polish. Some marking in pen and underlying in crayon. Overall in good condition. Abraham Isaac Kupfersztoch aka Kupperstock Poland - 1940 Berlin the author was an eccentric Hassidic Rabbi originally from Warsaw. He aided Germany during World War I by providing secret plans of the layout of Russian defenses. His reasons for doing this were based both an personal animus he harbored towards the Russians for executing some of his students years earlier and also likely in connection with this prophecy. As a consequence of his actions during the war he was granted German citizenship. He lived in Berlin and operated a Yeshiva there up through the Nazi period. He was even given financial support from the government and amazingly was one of an extremely rare class of Jewish citizens to have actually been given protection from anti-Semitic actions and persecution during the period. An extraordinary story reports that his yeshiva was in fact guarded from violence during the infamous Kristallnacht by a squad of SS members. Upon his death of natural causes in 1940 his students were subsequently no longer shielded from the Holocaust and were sent to concentration camps. NP unknown