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Bidding Information
Lot #    7120
Auction End Date    4/27/2004 10:02:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Avodat ha-Kodesh
Title (Hebrew)    עבודת הקודש
Author    [Kabbalah - First Ed.] R. Meir ibn Gabbai
City    Cracow
Publisher    Isaac b. Aaron of Prostiz
Publication Date    1577
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    First edition. 139 ff., 310:206 mm., wide margins, light age staining, old hands on title, old Latin hand in margins of several initial ff. A very good copy bound in modern full calf boards, tooled in blind.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Meir b. Ezekiel ibn Gabbai (1480–after 1540), kabbalist of the generation of Spanish exiles. The details of his life are not known. Apparently he lived in Turkey and possibly died in Erez Israel. He wrote three books dealing with the principal problems of Kabbalah. They are: Tola'at Ya'akov (written in 1507 and first printed in Constantinople, 1560), on the prayers; Derekh Emunah (written in 1539 and first printed Constantinople, 1560), an explanation of the doctrine of the sefirot in the form of questions and answers, based on Sha'ar ha-Sho'el by Azriel of Gerona and incorporating views of the Zohar; and Avodat ha-Kodesh, on the entire doctrine of the Kabbalah, in four parts - on the unity of G-d, the worship of G-d, the purpose of man in the universe, and an explanation of esoteric aspects of the Torah - an important work which he wrote from 1523 to 1531. The last is the most comprehensive and organized summary of the doctrine of the Kabbalah prior to the Safed period and was one of the most popular books on Kabbalah even with recent generations. It was first printed 1566–68 under the name Marot Elokim. Ibn Gabbai was one of the leading proponents of the view that the Sefirot are the essence of divinity.
          
Paragraph 2    להרב ... מאיר ן' גבאי זלהה. כולל ארבעה חלקים המיישירים את האדם בעבודת הקודש הרצויה אליו יתברך ...

          
Reference
Description		    EJ
        
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Listing Classification
Period
16th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica