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Bidding Information
Lot #    19084
Auction End Date    10/9/2007 11:54:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Ez Hayyim
Title (Hebrew)    òõ çééí
Author    [Kabbalah] R. Hayyim Vital
City    Korzec (Korets) (i.e. Russia-Poland)
Publisher    Abraham Isaac
Publication Date    [1818]
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description
   [1], 51 [i.e. 101] ff., 373:230 mm., wide margins, usual age staining, old hands. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.
          
Paragraph 1    City of press forged to avoid the censor and/or the Russian tax authorities.
          
Detailed
Description
   An exposition of Lurianic Kabbalah by R. Hayyim Ben Joseph Vital (1542–1620), one of the greatest kabbalists, and the leading disciple of R. Isaac Ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534–1572, ha-Ari). Peri Ez Hayyim is that part of Lurianic Kabbalah pertaining to matters of prayer and mystical meditations. The text of the title page is set within a pillared frame; on the verso are approbations from leading rabbis. The volume begins with an introduction (2a-4b), followed by the text, which is divided into twenty nine sha’arim, each subdivided into chapters. The subject matter begins with Tefilah, Berakhot, and includes such other subjects as Zizit, Tephilin, Amidah, ha-Mittah, Shabbat, concluding with Lulav. Peri Ez Hayyim contains all the kavvanot on those subjects for weekdays and Shabbat, as appropriate. R. Vital 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 deat, 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. His last move was to Damascus where he died. R. Vital was a prolific writer, his works encompassing Talmud, response, homilies, and even astronomy. R. Vital assembled his major writings into two vast works Ez ha-Hayyim and Ez ha-Da’at. The former is the inclusive name for all those writings in which he elaborated on the teaching of R. Isaac Luria. These works went through several versions and adaptations, for Vital began to arrange what he had heard from Luria immediately after his death, remained absorbed in this task for more than 20 years.
          
Paragraph 2    ùçéáø ... äøá ... çééí åéèàì ... ðãôñ îçãù ... ò"é ... ø' àáøäí éöç÷ ... áùðú åì÷ç î'ò'õ' ç'é'é'í' å'à'ë'ì' å'ç'é' ì'ò'å'ì'í' [ú÷ë"ä!]

æää ìäåöàú ìàùöåá ú÷ò"ç, ãôåñ éäåãä ìéá øáéï ùèééï, ôøè ìòîåã äùòø ùðãôñ îçãù. äåòìîå î÷åí äãôåñ, ùîå ùì äîãôéñ åúàøéê ääãôñä äðëåðéí.

          
Reference
Description
   EJ; JE; CD-EPI 0321509
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica