View Auction Listing - Shomer Emunim

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Bidding Information
Lot #		18535
Auction End Date		8/21/2007 10:03:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Shomer Emunim

Title (Hebrew)

שומר אמונים - מבוא פתחים

Author

[Kabbalah - First Ed.] R. Joseph Ergas

City

Amsterdam

Publication Date

1736

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

First edition.[2], 80 [i.e. 79] ff., 221:172 mm., wide margins, light age staining, lacks final [2] ff. as usual. A very good copy bound in contemporary vellum over wood boards, rubbed.

Detailed
Description

Explanation of the principles of the Kabbalah in the form of a dialogue between Shaltiel, who believes only in the revealed Torah, and Jehoiada, the victor in this argument, who believes also in the esoteric aspect of the Torah; Shomer Emunim includes Mevo Petahim, an appendix to the former, a selection from Luria's doctrine, and an introduction to the Kabbalah, and Minhat Yosef, an ethical-religious anthology and the rules for the study of the kabbalistic doctrines. R. Joseph b. Emanuel Ergas (1685–1730), rabbi, kabbalist, and author of books on halakhic and kabbalistic matters. R. Ergas, who was of Marrano descent, was born in Leghorn. The headdress of a knight engraved on his tomb in Leghorn perhaps indicates descent from a noble Spanish family. R. Samuel of Fez was his teacher of halakhah and R. Benjamin ha-Kohen Vitale of Reggio taught him Kabbalah. As a young man, he traveled throughout Italy and preached public sermons, urging repentance. For a while he stayed in Pisa where he founded a yeshivah, Neveh Shalom. Later, he was appointed rabbi in Leghorn, and remained there until his death. R. Ergas became famous for his pamphlet Tokhahat Megullah, the polemic against the Shabbatean Nehemiah Hayon, and an addition to it called Ha-Zad Nahash (London, 1715). A selection of his responsa was published by his disciple R. Malachi Ha-Kohen as Divrei Yosef (Leghorn, 1742). The publisher's introduction mentions several piyyutim written by R. Ergas. R. Ergas was an enthusiastic believer in the importance and sanctity of the Kabbalah in general and of the Zohar in particular, despite his view that marginal annotations had been introduced into the proper text of the Zohar. He opposed philosophy, which he considered alien to Judaism and an invention of heretics. He opposed Maimonides' explanations of the stories of the Creation and the visions of Ezekiel in the spirit of Aristotle's natural philosophy. R. Ergas' style is distinguished by its clarity.

Paragraph 2

...שומר וכולל עיקרי האמונה ... מורה באצבע ובאותות ובמופתים אמיתות חכמת הקבלה וסודותיה ... כאשר קיימו וקבלו עליהם המקובלים הנאמנים ... בהקדמות ומפתחות ... הכינו וגם חקרו ... המקובל ... כמוהר"ר יוסף אירגאס זצוק"ל בכמוהר"ר עמנואל זצ"ל ... הובא לבית הדפוס במצות ובהוצאת שני בני [המחבר] ... כה"ר עמנואל ואברהם אירגאס יצ"ו ...

קדם שער קצר. שני וויכוחים על הקבלה. דף [נח, א] שער מיוחד: מבוא פתחים והוא קונטריס מליקוטי אורות ניצוצות. וכללים [בסדר א"ב]. המפוזרים בכתבי ... האר"י זצוק"ל. אשר לקט ואסף ... כמוהר"ר יוסף אירגאס זצוק"ל ... בית שער ופרוזדור כדי שיכנס לטרקלין ... ואלה מוסיף ... קצת שאלות ותשובות [בקבלה] ... הובא לבית הדפוס במצות ובהוצאת שני בני המחבר ... כה"ר עמנואל ואברהם אירגאס ... בשנת גדול יהיה כבוד הבית הזה [תצ"ו, 1736]. דף נט, ב: שיר לכבוד הספר (פותח: "יסוד היסודות וראש היתדות להוגה בסודות ורזים טמונים"), מאת ר' מלאכי הכהן.

Reference
Description

EJ; Joseph ben Emanuel Ergas, Shomer Emunim, ed. by S. A. Horodezky (repr. 1927), introd.; CD-EPI 0109763

Associated Images

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Listing Classification

Period

18th Century:

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Location

Holland:

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Subject

Kabbalah:

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Characteristic

First Editions:		Checked
Language:		Hebrew

Manuscript Type

Kind of Judaica