The Law of God [Pentateuch].

The first translation of the Torah into English by an American Jew in its first edition.

Leeser's Pentateuch is the first publication of the Hebrew Bible in the United States. The translator states in the preface that the text is designed 'for the service of the Synagogue, both German and Portuguese', with the parallel English translation facing each page of the Hebrew text, strictly following the paragraph breaks. The text indicates the subdivisions within each Parasha (i.e. Torah sections) with a star. It also includes in the footnotes some noteworthy comments by Rashi, Onkelos, Mendelssohn or Arnheim, as well as Leeser's own observations. The second part of each of the five books, after the Parachiot, contains the Haftarot, a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im (Prophets) of the Hebrew Bible that are publicly read in synagogues after the Torah reading on each Sabbath and on Jewish festivals and fast

The culmination of seven years of scholarship, this Hebrew and English Pentateuch was published at Leeser's expense, both in this tall format and in a smaller version. Leeser's Pentateuch remained the standard English version for American Jews until the Jewish Publication Society translation appeared in 1917. Leeser had a number of reasons to pursue this publication. First, he was the chief academic resource person of the Rebecca Gratz's Sunday School, which was started in March 1838 in Philadelphia. Students were obliged to use the King James Bible because they did not have a Jewish alternative. Therefore, Leeser aimed to provide them with an appropriate translation. Second, a popular German-Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible by Leopold Zunz was published in 1837-38, which Leeser used as a prototype for his own work. Finally, Leeser had always wished to provide the Jews of America with an English text of the Bible that was produced by one of their own and not tainted by conversionist motivations. In the preface to the first volume, the Rabbi clearly explains that 'however much a revised translation may be desired by all believers in the Word of God, there is no probability that the gentiles will encourage any publication of this nature, emanating from a Jewish writer'.

Rabbi Isaac Leeser (1806-1868) was born in Westphalia and emigrated to America in 1824. The head Rabbi of the Synagogue Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, he became America's most influential Jewish writer, editor, and teacher. He promulgated Jewish culture and religious activity in the United States by providing American Jews with numerous basic religious texts and conceptual tools they needed.