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Three independent ethical works, all printed in Constantinople (Istanbul), and bound together. The first title is Sha’arei Kedusha, by R. Hayyim Vital. First edition of this kabbalistic moral work by Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (1542–1620), the leading disciple of R. Isaac Luria (ha-Ari Kodesh). was born in Safed and studied in yeshivot there, especially under R. Moses Alshekh, his teacher in exoteric subjects. In 1564 he began to study Kabbalah, at first according to the system R. Moses Cordovero, and, after R. Isaac Luria’s (Ari) arrival in Safed, under the latter, becoming the Ari’s principal disciple. After the Ari’s death, R. Vital began to arrange the Ari’s teachings in written form, elaborating on them according to his own understanding, becoming the primary transmitter of the Ari’s teachings. R. Vital later moved to Jerusalem, serving as rabbi and head of a yeshivah from late 1577 to late 1585, where he wrote the last version of his presentation of the Lurianic system. In 1586 he returned to Safed, remaining there until 1592. In 1590 R. Vital was “ordained” as rabbi by his teacher R. Moses Alshekh, and then returned to Jerusalem in 1593 remaining several years, occasionally returning to Safed.
The second book is Mikraei Kadesh by R. Ephraim ben Abraham Hayyot. This is the only edition of Mikraei Kadesh, which is concerned with issues related to the holiness of marital relations.
The third work, also a first edition and on mussar, is Matok la-Nefesh by R. Isaac ben Solomn Farhi. A member of the renowned family of financiers in Damascus during the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of this family held the position of \arraf ("banker") in the province of Damascus during the 1740s and possibly even earlier. It appears that members of this family also served as officials in the financial administration of the province and during the 1790s the bookkeeping of the provincial treasury was entrusted to them. The status and power of this family reached its climax during the 19th century, when the responsibility for the affairs of the treasury of the provinces of Damascus and Sidon—the center of which was in Acre—was handed over to one of its members. The family could then undertake the financing of large-scale projects, including participation in the financing of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) expenses, which was within the domain of the governor of the Damascus Province as the organizer of the hajj caravan. R. Isaac Farsi (1782-1853) was a well-known member of this family wasR. Isaac Farhi was the author of Tuv Yerushalayim (Jerusalem, 1842), Zekhut ha-Rabbim (Constantinople, 1829), Imrei Binah (Bilagrado, 1837), Zekhut u-Mishor (Smyrna, 1850), Zuf Devash (Leghorn, 1849), Shevet Mishor (Belgrade, 1837), Matok la-Nefesh (Constantinople, 1828), Marpe la-Ezem (Constantinople, 1830), Matok mi-Devash (Jerusalem, 1842), Musar Haskel (Constantinople, 1830), and Minei Metikah (Leghorn, 1848); sermons for the Sabbath.
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