Diskuhrs, gheltin tsvishn yehudim in shif fun itret nokh Amsterdam, a periodical "in defence of the new congregation in Amsterdam". [Amsterdam: Yochanan Levy Rofeh, 1797-1798]. Yiddish. 24 booklets (no additional booklets were printed).
"Diskuhrs", a bound volume containing 24 satiric-humorous booklets published on behalf of the Adat Yeshurun congregation – the new congregation in Amsterdam.
After the occupation of Holland by the French in 1795, a group of intellectual Jews founded a new congregation named Adat Yeshurun that introduced aesthetic changes to prayers and to customs inspired by the Sephardi congregation. A dispute took place between the old and new congregations accompanied by mutual accusations. During this dispute each of the congregations published booklets against the other – the booklets offered here, on behalf of the new congregation, and the booklets "Diskuhrs vegn di naye kehila in Amsterdam" on behalf of the old congregation.
The "Diskuhrs" booklets are considered the first Yiddish periodicals. For more information, see: "The 'Diskuhrs' of the old and new congregation in Amsterdam" by Joseph Melkman, in: Michmane Yosef, Jerusalem, 1994. pp. 135-143.
24 booklets (varying number of pages; 4-8 pages per booklets), 17.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, creases and folds. Inked stamps on the first page. Small tears to margins. Blemishes and tears to binding (parts of the spine are missing). Front board detached.