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Bidding Information
Lot #    10192
Auction End Date    4/19/2005 12:46:40 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Berit Menuhah (The Covenant of Rest)
Title (Hebrew)    ברית מנוחה
Author    [Kabbalah - First Ed.] R. Abraham of Granada
City    Amsterdam
Publisher    Judah b. Mordecai & Samuel b. Moses ha-Levi
Publication Date    1648
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    First edition. 40 ff., 178:142 mm., light age and use staining. A good copy bound in modern cloth boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Abraham b. Isaacof Granada, Spanish kabbalist, putative author of Berit Menuhah (“The Covenant of Rest”), one of the main works of the Kabbalah. Nothing is known of his life or of the era to which he belongs. In the introduction to his commentary on Sefer Yezirah, R. Moses Botarel gives a long quotation from Sefer ha-Berit (“The Book of the Covenant”) written by a scholar called R. Abraham b. Isaac of Granada. But both language and contents prove that this book was not written by the author of Berit Menuhah, which was without doubt composed in Spain during the 14th century. It explains the innermost meaning of the vocalization of G-d's name in 26 different ways. However, only the first ten ways were printed, and this only in a very corrupt form (Amsterdam, 1648): R. H.J.D. Azulai saw more than twice this number in a manuscript. The actual content of this work is very enigmatic as, in many respects, its symbolism and mysticism do not correspond with the conventional Kabbalah. The influence of R. Abraham Abulafia's Kabbalah is recognizable but the language-and-letter-mysticism of R. Abulafia is combined with a complicated light-mysticism. Moreover, the book's aim was to provide a systematic basis for the so-called Practical Kabbalah. The few clear passages reveal the author as a profound thinker and visionary. In eight places, he quotes his own thought process as the words of “the learned Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai,” mostly in Aramaic. But these quotations are not to be found in the Zohar, and in view of their style and contents do not belong there. The work was highly regarded by later kabbalists, especially by R. Moses Cordovero and R. Isaac Luria, who read their own thinking into R. Abraham's symbolism. R. Cordovero wrote a lengthy commentary on part of the book. R. Abraham quotes two more of his own works, Megalleh ha-Ta'alumot (“Revealing Hidden Things”) and Sefer ha-Gevurah (“The Book of Power”), on the names of G-d and Practical Kabbalah.
          
Paragraph 2    ...הספר הזה הכולו[!] קודש הקדשים יאמר לו. תא חזי מאן קא מסהיד עלוהי ... כמוהר"ר יצחק לוריא זצ"ל. כי זהו לשון ספר הכוונות. בענין ספרי הקבלה היה אומר כי מי שעשה ספר ברית מנוחה היה חכם גדול ונאמן עכ"ל. ולא נזכר שם מחברו לבד זה מצאתי ראיתי בתוך ספר לימודי אצילות שכתב וז"ל לזה כיון ר' אברהם מרימון הספרדי בספר ברית מנוחה שלו ... כי כל דבריו הם דברי רוח הקודש עכ"ל.
          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0106827; EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
17th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Holland:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica