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Kabbalistic ethical work on reward and punishment from R. Hayyim Vital. Sha’arei Kedushah was ostensibly written for the benefit of a wider audience. Nevertheless, it has considerably deeper interpretations for the knowledgeable reader. There is an introduction, followed by the text, which is divided into three parts (helukim), each subdivided into chapters (sha’arim). Among the contents of Sha’arei Kedushah is discussion of meditation (part 3, chapters 5–8) in which R. Vital propounds his doctrine on the subject. Here the magic aspect attached to meditation is emphasized, explained in a restricted sense. Included are the final steps in the ascension of the meditating mind which seeks to bring down the influx of the supernal lights to earth; it require meditatory activities of a magic nature, which are known as Yihudim. The title page gives the place of printing as לי אור נא (Livorno, Leghorn. The last text page has verse dedicated to R. [Abraham קורייאט]. The verso of that page has a full page depiction of the Sadon printer’s mark, comprised of lion within a cartouche topped by a crown. An important feature of this copy are the marginal annotations in ink, in some places quite detailed.
R. Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (1542–1620 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 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.
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... הועתק מכתיבת... כהוהר"ר חיים ויטאל... הוספנו בו הגהו"ת...
בשער: "תחת ממשלת... אלקסנדר פאוולאויץ" (מלך בשנים תקס"א-תקפ"א).
בשער: "גדרוקט אין פולנאה אין ואלינשען גיבערנעמט... ברשיון הצונזער דקאדעמיא מווילנא". העמוד האחרון פותח במילים "וחד למינדע ליה" ובשוליו קישוט רחב. חלק מה"אזהרה לנכנס לטייל בפרדס" שבסוף הספר נדפס באותיות מרובעות (שאר הספר באותיות רש"י).
קיימת הוצאה דומה, חסרת תאריך ושמו של המדפיס, שנדפסה בפולנאה באותו הזמן. יש שינויים טיפוגראפיים רבים בין שתי ההוצאות (ההוצאה הנוכחית נדפסה באותיות גדולות יותר). |
