16:28:43


[Login]   
[Book List]  
 
Bidding Information
Lot #    12379
Auction End Date    12/20/2005 10:16:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Sefer ha Mefo'ar
Title (Hebrew)    ספר המפואר
Author    [Hasidim - Kabbalah] R. Solomon Molcho
City    Minkovtsy
Publisher    Abraham Mordecai ben Shevah
Publication Date    1803
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    24, 23-30, 46 ff., octavo, 170:100 mm., wide margins, light age staining, paper repairs, old hands. A good copy bound in modern half cloth boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    Kabbalistic sermons by R. Solomon Molcho (c. 1500-1532). This edition of the renowned derashot of R. Molcho was brought to press by R. Issachar Dov Baer ben Hayyim of Slavita. It has an approbation from R. Isaac Levi of Berditchov. There is an introduction from R. Molcho, followed by eight lines from various Psalms, the initial letters forming an acrostic of his name. The author was born to a Marrano family in Lisbon and, as Diogo Pires, had attained the position of secretary to the council and recorder at the court of appeals of King Joao III, when David Reuveni, self styled emissary of his brother, Joseph, reputedly king of the Jewish tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, arrived in the Portuguese capital in 1525, inspired by Reuveni's visit and claims, circumcised himself, and took the name Solomon Molcho. Advised by Reuveni, Molcho fled, eventually arriving in Salonika, where he studied kabbalah under R. Joseph Taitazak (c.1487/88-c.1545), a renowned kabbalist and esteemed halakhic decisor. Molcho, who claimed to have visions, rapidly became proficient in kabbalah, gathering disciples to whom he delivered sermons. Molcho met, or at least had an influence, on R. Joseph Caro, as expressed in the latter's Maggid Mesharim (Lublin, 1646), where he is referred to as, "my chosen one." Molcho resided for a time in Safed, and, by 1529, was in Rome, where he sat as a beggar among the diseased at the gates of Rome, to fulfill the requirements of the Messiah. He met and sufficiently influenced Pope Clement VII to secure protection from the Inquisition. Molcho predicted a flood which inundated Rome in 1530 and an earthquake in Portugal the following year. When accused by the Inquisition of judaizing and sentenced to be burned at the stake, another man, a condemned criminal, was burned in Molcho's stead, as a result of the pope's intervention. After these successes Molcho, together again with David Reuveni, went to Regensburg, Germany in 1532 to meet with Emperor Charles IV, ostensibly to gain his support for raising a Jewish army to fight the Turks. Molcho bore a banner with the word Maccabi, which stood for "Who among the mighty is like unto G-d?" (Exodus 15:11). Charles, imprisoned both Reuveni and Molcho. The former died in prison, whereas Molcho, tried by an ecclesiastical court in Mantua, and refusing a pardon from the emperor if he would return to Christianity, was burned at the stake.

Sefer ha Mefo’ar is a kabbalistic work containing gematrias, apocalyptic speculations, and is replete with eschatological computations. It is concerned with the coming of the Messiah, which R. Molcho predicted would occur within eleven years, that is, in 1540, a calculation derived from the book of Daniel. Unlike Reuveni, Molcho believes the redemption will be not by means of war, but through the name of G-d.
          
Paragraph 2    ... הובא לבית הדפוס ע"י... מהו' ישכר (דוב) בער במהור"ר חיים מסלאויטא...

בראשי העמודים: שלמה מלכו. על-פי אמשטרדם תס"ט, עם הקדמת ר' יחיאל, בהשמטת "דברי מוסר". בחלקו נייר כחול. הסכמה: ר' לוי יצחק בהגאון מהר"ם [ר' מאיר], בארדיטשוב, ז כסלו תקס"ג.

          
Reference
Description		    Heller, 16th Century; Vin Minkovtsy 13; CD-EPI 0146853
        
Associated Images
2 Images (Click thumbnail to view full size image):
  Order   Image   Caption
  1   Click to view full size  
  
  2   Click to view full size  
  
  
Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
Hasidic:    Checked
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Blue Paper:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica