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Bidding Information
Lot #    7224
Auction End Date    4/27/2004 1:32:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Attributed to Primeval Adam, Rezi'el ha-Malakh
Title (Hebrew)    רזיאל המלאך
Author    [Kabbalah - Chassidim - First Ed.]
City    Warsaw
Publisher    H. Nosonowicze
Publication Date    1812
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description
   First edition of notes. 51 ff., 217:184 mm., usual age staining, wide margins. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed. With many diagrams and charms (kameot).
          
Detailed
Description
   With the notes of the Maggid of Kosnitz, R. Israel Hopstein.

Collection of mystical, cosmological, and magical Hebrew works and portions of works. First printed in Amsterdam in 1701, it continues to be reprinted many times, because of the popular belief that the book protects its owner's home from fire and other dangers. Indeed, few Jewish homes can be found without a copy. There are some manuscripts of, at least, parts of this work which date back to the 16th century. The material can be divided into three distinct categories or strata:

(1) Works, or parts of works, which belong to Heikhalot and Merkabah mysticism, the mystical and cosmological literature of the talmudic and geonic periods. Of these, Raziel contains a version of the Sefer ha-Malbush, a magical work; baraita of Ma'aseh Bereshit, a cosmological and astrological description of the Creation, which has some mystical overtones; and a major part of the Sefer ha-Razim ("Book of Magical Secrets"), which is a collection of magical formulas and angelological material from talmudic times. The introduction states that the angel Raziel revealed the secrets described to Adam. In this category, there is some importance to a long version of the early anthropomorphic work, the Shi'ur Komah, describing the members and secret names of the Creator.

(2) Material which belongs to literature of the 13th-century R. Hasidei Ashkenaz. To this category belong the introduction and the first half of R. Eleazar of Worms' work, Sod Ma'aseh Bereshit ("The Secret of the Creation"), which formed the first part of his Sodei Rezaya. Some exegetical works on the Holy Names of G-d, and some magical formulas which conclude the collection, also belong to the literary heritage of the R. Hasidei Ashkenaz.

(3) A few portions of kabbalistic literature, descriptions of the Sefirot and exegeses of Holy Names, mostly reflecting kabbalistic theology of pre-Lurianic periods.

          
Paragraph 2    ... נזדרזתי מהמקובל... [ר'] ישראל [ב"ר שבתי הופשטיין]... מגיד משרים דק"ק קאזניץ נ"י... ששלח לידי הגההות [!] וקצת תוספת ביאור על מקצת מאמרי הספר... להדפיס הספר... עם הגהות כנ"ל... הובא לבית הדפוס ע"י... ר' צבי הירש במהו' נתן ני' מלוטמערסק מדפיס דפה ווארשי. ושותפו... ר' יהודה שמואל במהו' אברהם רבין שטיין.

בראשי רוב הדפים: ספר רזיאל הגדול. ר' ישראל מקוזניץ כותב בהסכמתו: "וחדשים אשר מקרוב באו מאיזו דפוס ממדינת רוסי' [מינקאוויץ תקס"ג] רבו הקופצים עליהם... ועתה גם המה אינם בנמצא. ועתה... מוה' יהודה שמואל ... רבין שטיין...נשא לבו... להדפיס הספר... מחדש... ומסרתי לו ג"כ איזו דברים אחדים הכתובים בגליון ספר מאשר חנני ד', קצת הגהות וקצת חידושים". ברוב ההוצאות הבאות, החל בהוצאת לבוב 1865, נאמר בשער "והוספנו כעת הגהות... המגיד דק"ק קאזניץ". אך באמת נדפסו הגהות אלו רק פעם אחת, בהוצאה זו.

          
Reference
Description
   EJ; M. Margalioth, Sefer ha-Razim (1966), introduction; J. Dan, Torat ha-Sod shel Hasidei Ashkenaz (1968), pp. 83, 208; CD-EPI 0175552
        
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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