Physical
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First edition. 314 ff., folio, 276:183 mm, wide margins, usual light age and damp staining, stamps, title backed, final 7 ff. from a shorter copy. A good copy bound in modern half vellum and cloth boards.
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Detailed
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First edition of the discourses and homilies on the weekly parashat by R. Tuviyyah ben Abraham ha-Levi of Safed. Tuviyyah was a student of R. Solomon ben Moses Sagis (d. c. 1588), who was a disciple of R. Isaac Luria (ha-Ari ha-Kodesh). The title page of Hen Tov has an architectural frame. At the top is the verse, “and loving favor (hen tov) rather than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1). The text states that it is, a new commentary, good and very desirable, new, his novellae renewed in desirable discourses,: Examine his work, make it clear for your benefit and good, “for your dew is as the dew of herbs” (Isaiah 26:19), for within it is Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim (Bible), joined and explained, “refined, thoroughly refined” (from the incense offering in daily prayers), difficult passages in clarity and depth . . . In the year, “And there has not arisen since in Israel a prophet like Moses ëîùä (365 = 1605)” (Deuteronomy 34:10).
A preliminary introductory page follows, R. Tuviyyah identifying himself as R. Tuviyyah ben Abraham ha-Levi ben Tuviyyah ha-Levi ben Abraham ha-Levi. It is comprised of nine paragraphs, each beginning with the word good (tov). Tuviyyah writes that, I have called its name Hen Tov, for G-d is called tov, and He, “endowed me with a good endowment” (Genesis 30:20) called, “a goodly (tov) doctrine” (Proverbs 4:1), as our sages say, “Let good come and receive good from good” (Menahot 53b) and this is Moses whose name is called Tuviyyah. . .
A more lengthy introduction follows, in a single column in square letters. Next is the text, in two columns in rabbinic letters. The discourses are discursive and detailed. Within them are numerous quotations from R. Sagis and the Ari as well as from R. Tuviyyah’s colleagues in Safed. The volume concludes with a colophon from Tuviyyah followed by an index (313a-14b). Initial words of books are set in a decorative frame.
The second and last edition of Hen Tov was begun in Prague in 1618 but was not completed until 1624, the first and last parts (from leaf 137) being printed by different presses. Hen Tov is the only published work by R. Tuviyyah. |
