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Bidding Information
Lot #    26205
Auction End Date    3/23/2010 10:40:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Shaarei Kedusha; Alim le-Trufa
Title (Hebrew)    שערי קדושה; עלים לתרופה
Author    [Kabbalah] R. Hayyim Vital; R. Elijah Gaon (Gra)
City    Aram Zova (Aleppo)
Publisher    Elijah Hai
Publication Date    1866
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    48; 8 f., 12 mo., 140:96 mm., nice margins, old hands, light age staining. A very good copy bound in contemporary half marbled paper and leather boards. First Hebrew book printed in Aleppo.
          
Detailed
Description		    Two kabbalistic works in one volume. The first, Shaarei Kedusha, is by R. Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (1542–1620) 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. 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 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.

The second work is by the Vilna Gaon, R. Elijah ben Solomon Zalman of Vilna (1720-97) is a dominant figure in Jewish intellectual thought, his importance and prestige undiminished, as great today, if not greater, than in his own time. The Vilna Gaon’s extraordinary intelligence, expressed by his expertise in Torah at the age of three, outdistancing his tutors while a young child, his incredible proficiency over the entire expanse of the written and Oral Torah by nine, by which time he was already studying Kabbalah, accompanied by complete piety, are attested to by numerous reputable sources. More than seventy works, encompassing Bible, halakhah, Talmud, Kabbalah, and general sciences are attributed to him.

          
Paragraph 2    מעבר לשער: "יש אתנו הסכמה ... מכל רבני ... א"רץ ... ונדפיסה ... בשו"ת הרי"ף ... שיעלה אח"ז על מש"בח דפוסינו". הכוונה לספר "נבחר מכסף, שאלות ותשובות" של ר' יאשיהו פינטו, שנדפס שם בשנת תרכ"ט. עיין: א' יערי, הדפוס העברי בארצות המזרח, חלק א, ירושלם תרצ"ו, עמ' 39-38. דף [2-2 ,1]: הקדמת ר' אברהם ששון, אבי המדפיס שהביא את הספר לדפוס. אזהרה לנכנס לטייל בפרדס נשמטה.

(נדפס בעיר מינסק [1836]... הדפסתיו... ותקנתיו והגהתיו... מאשר באו לידי בכ"י כתובים ומוגהים... בכמה מעלו'... החותם... אברהם ששון)... דף ז-ח: "אורחות חיים מהרא"ש ומדרז"ל [מהרב רבנו אשר בן יחיאל ומדברי רבותינו ז"ל]". הוא החלק השני של צוואת הרא"ש, בן קלב סעיפים, שנכללו כאן בתוך נב סעיפים, בשינויים רבים, בהשמטות ובהוספות. גם איגרת הגר"א נדפסה כאן בשינויים מרובים, בהשמטות ובהוספות. עיין: בצלאל לנדוי, הגאון החסיד מוילנא, ירושלם תשכ"ז, עמ' שכה-שכו; שלא.

          
Reference
Description		    Yaari, Aleppo 1-2; CD-EPI 0130816, 0150426; EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Other:    Syria
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica