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Shevilei Emunah, R. Meir b. Isaac Aldabi, Amsterdam 1627

שבילי אמונה - Kabbalah - Religous Philosophy

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Details
  • Lot Number 45530
  • Title (English) Shevilei Emunah
  • Title (Hebrew) שבילי אמונה
  • Note Kabbalah - Religous Philosophy
  • Author R. Meir b. Isaac Aldabi
  • City Amsterdam
  • Publisher Daniel de Fonseco
  • Publication Date 1627
  • Estimated Price - Low 2,000
  • Estimated Price - High 3,000

  • Item # 1212571
  • End Date
  • Start Date
Description

Physical Description:

118 f., quarto, 201:160 mm., light age staining, nice margins, title extended on margins, paper repairs, few running titles clipped. A good copy bound in modern full calf over boards.

A rare early Amsterdam inprint.

 

Detailed Description:   

Shevilei Emunah, the fragments of ancient Jewish wisdom scattered throughout the various works of the philosophers and natural scientists, traced back to their original sources. Actually, as stated in the introduction, the book is merely a compilation of subjects and theories, some of them translated by the Author from foreign languages, and culled from different works. Borrowed mainly from Hebrew literature and to some extent, particularly in the fields of medicine and astronomy, from Arabic literature. The philosophy is based largely on that of Maimonides, ethics on that of R. Bahya b. Joseph ibn Paquda, and theology on that of Nahmanides and his circle. The influence of Nahmanides is particularly evident in Aldabi's predilection for Kabbalah that he ties in with his rationalist philosophy. He relies on the encyclopedic Sha'ar ha-Shamayim, of his predecessor R. Gershon b. Solomon of Arles and for his psychological theories he uses the views of R. Joseph ibn Zaddik and R. Hillel b. Samuel of Verona. The book is divided into ten "paths" (netivot):

(1) the existence and unity of G-d, His names, divine attributes both from a philosophic and a kabbalistic point of view;

(2) the creation of the world, geography and astronomy, the elements;

(3) the creation of man and family life (part of this section is taken, without acknowledgment from the Iggeret ha-Kodesh of Nahmanides);

(4) embryology, anatomy, and human physiology (a digest of the accepted theories on anatomy and physiology in medieval medicine, presented on the basis of the comparison between the microcosm and macrocosm);

(5) rules for physical and "spiritual" hygiene (on the nature of anger, joy, and the like);

(6) the nature and the faculties of the soul;

(7) religious observances as defined by the Torah and rabbinic tradition;

(8) the uninterrupted chain of the Oral Law from Moses to the Talmud;

(9) reward and punishment and metempsychosis; and finally

(10) the redemption of Israel, resurrection, and the world to come.

The last two chapters are based largely on the opinions of Nahmanides and R. Solomon b. Abraham Aderet.

R. Meir b. Isaac Aldabi (c. 1310–c. 1360) religious philosopher and Kabbalist. R. Aldabi was a grandson of R. Asher b. Jehiel. As a young man he received a comprehensive education in biblical and rabbinic literature, and afterward he turned to philosophical and scientific studies. In 1348 he apparently left his native Toledo and settled in Jerusalem, where, in 1360, he finished his long contemplated work, Shevilei Emunah ("Paths of Faith").

 

Hebrew Description:

... כמר' אברהם כהן אנריקיש והמרומם כמר' דניאל די פונשיקה יצ"ו יעצו ... וצוו להדפיסו ... הוגה ... על ידי כמר' אברהם די פונשיקא ...

עשר הנתיבות: א. אמונת הבורא ויחודו. ב. חידת העולם ופעולות גרמי השמים. ג. יצירת אדם וחוה. ד. יצירת האדם ותכונות אבריו. ה. הנהגת בריאות הגוף. ו. הנפש והשכל. ז. בריאות הנפש. ח. תורה שבעל פה. ט. שכר ועונש. י. גאולה, תחיה ועולם הבא.

עיין על הספר: יצחק ריבקינד, דקדוקי-ספרים - ספר היובל לכבוד אלכסנדר מארכס, נוירק תש"י, עמ' תל, מס' 37.

 

References:

CD-NLI 0110013; EJ; Fuks, Holland 193; Vinograd 17