I recently acquired an interesting volume: a 1786 first edition of Givat Shaul, which is a lengthy eulogy for Saul Halevi, (1712-85), av beth din of The Hague, Netherlands. (His wife, Dinah, was famous for her vast Torah knowledge and ability to write Hebrew poetry, as attested to by the Chida.).
The sefer’s author, R. Isaac Takheim, writes of his nine daughters awaiting marriage and of his hopes that proceeds from sales of the sefer will allow him to obtain dowries for them. Indeed, the chronogram on the title is “Le’nadan Biti” (for the dowry of my daughters).
R. Saul Halevi was the son-in-law of the Rabbi of Amsterdam, R. Aryeh Leib, who himself was the son-in-law of R. Zvi Ashkenazi, the Chacham Zvi. The Hague during this period was a center of Jewish life, Hebrew printing, and trade, with traders from the New World and the Far East all passing through the city on business.
Over the course of the 18th century, the Ashkenazi population of The Hague grew to surpass that of the Portuguese, the latter being the earlier and more establishment community in the Netherlands.
Givat Shaul contains many fascinating items, including a reference to humans traveling through the air – “the inevitability of high-speed air travel, whereby, a traveler may be in Surat, India in the morning and by evening have reached Philadelphia, America.”
Another reference to America is made in the following context: “All men, be they adherents of religion or of science, have long ago come to the conclusion that G-d is omnipotent and can accomplish two ends by one act. Thus, it is possible for G-d, we can readily understand, to arrange it so that while it is morning in the East Indian city of Surat, it would be evening in the American city of Philadelphia.”
The author also makes mention of the recent inventions of the microscope and telescope and suggests they can help solve the philosophical conundrum of free will versus divine foreknowledge.
