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Bidding Information
Lot #    22008
Auction End Date    11/18/2008 11:57:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Or Yisrael
Title (Hebrew)    אור ישראל
Author    [Kabbalah - Polemic] R. Israel b. Aaron Jaffe
City    Frankfort am Oder
Publisher    Michel Goddshalk
Publication Date    1702
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    Only edition. [1], 7, 187 ff., 327:212 mm., wide margins, usual light age and damp staining, old hands. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed and split.
          
Detailed
Description		    Interpretations of the Zohar and kabbalistic commentaries on Orah Hayyim with approbations by numerous contemporary authorities. The work roused angry feelings in rabbinic circles, since the author was suspected of Shabbatean leanings because of the repeated use of the word zevi (interpreted as referring to Shabbetai Zevi) in his work. In his apology, Jaffe attributes the incriminating passages to an alien insertion; by this he contradicts the testimony of his son Aaron, who had corrected the whole work. His grandson had this apology printed at the beginning of his excerpt from his grandfather's work Tiferet Yisrael in order to clear him of the accusation of Shabbateanism. Although the rabbinic authorities had, in their approval to this work, confirmed the groundlessness of these accusations against Jaffe, the suspicion was nevertheless upheld by R. Jacob Emden (cf. Torat ha-Kena'ot (Lemberg, 1870), 145, first printed Amsterdam, 1752, and Shevirat Luhot ha-Aven (Zolkiew, 1756), 53b). On the other hand, R. David of Makow, who was close to the circle of R. Elijah Gaon of Vilna, took Jaffe's part in his anti-hasidic pamphlet Zemir Arizim.

R. Israel b. Aaron Jaffe (c. 1640–after 1703), kabbalist. Born in Uman (Ukraine), he fled at the age of eight to Glussk (Belorussia) on the outbreak of the Chmielnicki persecutions (1648). He studied with R. Isaac b. Abraham at Posen (Tiferet Yisrael, Frankfort on the Oder (1774), 40b) and afterward continued his studies together with his friends R. Aryeh Loeb Epstein and R. Jacob Hayyat (ibid., 35a). Later he became rabbi at Shklov (Belorussia). Jaffe, who claimed to see heavenly visions, among which were revelations of the prophet Elijah, felt himself called upon to work for the messianic redemption. He appeared in numerous communities in order to gain adherents for his kabbalistic theories and to scourge misdeeds. For the printing of his writings he went to Frankfort on the Oder, where his work was published.

The following works of Jaffe remained unpublished: Beit Yisrael, additions to the Talmud; commentary on the haftarot and the Five Scrolls; Yefeh Einayim; Milhamot Adonai; and Tiferet Yisrael. An excerpt from the last three works was published by his grandson and namesake (who had the appellation Zuta to differentiate him from his grandfather) under the title Tiferet Yisrael (Frankfort on the Oder, 1774); together with it are printed Kishut Tov by R. Moses b. Menahem and an excerpt from the works of R. Israel Zuta himself.

          
Paragraph 2    אשר חיבר ... ר' ישראל בהרר אהרן ז"ל יפ"ה אב"ד ור"מ דק"ק שקלאב ...מגזע סענדרליך וקלמנקש יפה ... פירוש על רוב מאמרי הזוהר ... וביותר לימוד סוד סדר האצילות וביאור ג"כ כתבי ... האר"י ז"ל. ופי' סוד כ"ב אתוון עם הנקודות. וסוד טעמי"ם נקודו"ת תגי"ן. וסידר לב' חלקים: חלק א ... פי' על רוב גמ' ואגדות תמוהים ועל רוב מזמורי תהילים ע"פ סוד וקצת ע"פ נגלה. והחלק הב' על ש"ע הא"ח מסימן א עד סוף סי' תרצז ..

הסכמות: ר' מרדכי זיסקינד ב"ר משה רוטנבורג, לובלין, כח מנחם [-אב] תס"א; ר' גבריאל בא"א מוהרי"ל [ר' יהודה ליב עשקעלעש], מעץ, יג תמוז תס"ב; ר' דוד ב"ר אברהם אופנהיים אב"ד ניקל שפורג, הנובר, כו כסליו תס"ב; ר' אברהם ב"ר שאול ברודא, פראג, יג תמוז תס"ב; ר' שמעי' ב"ר אברהם יששכר בער, ברלין, טז שבט תס"ב; ר' יהודא ליב ב"ר משה, גלוגא, ד תשרי תס"ב; ר' שלמה דרשן שפירא, לובלין, ראש-חודש אלול תס"א; ר' אברהם ב"ר יהודא, [ברלין], הלברשטאט, טו טבת תס"ב; ר' יהודא ליב ב"ר שלמה, גריידץ, כח מרחשון תס"ב; ר' ארי' יהודא ליב [ב"ר שמואל צבי הירש], בריסק, טו"ב [יז] מנחם [-אב] תס"א; ר' הלל הלוי, ווילנא, ג אדר-א תס"א; ר' מנחם ב"ר בנימין כ"ץ מבריסק, שקלאב באסיפת וועד קודש קציני מדינת רוסיא, ז תמוז תס"א; ר' שמחה כהן רפא פורט, הוראדני, יג אדר-א תס"א; ר' שלמה [ב"ר אלחנן] מזאלקוי, סלוצק, תס"א; ר' משה זאב וואלף ב"ר ידל, מינסק, טו תמוז תס"א.

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0136534; EJ; Z. Harkavy, Mishpahat Maskil le-Eitan (1953), 16–22; S. M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 368; E. Kahan, Kinat Soferim (1892), 616; Fuenn, Keneset, 694–5.
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
  
18th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica