Menachem di Lonzano and Abraham Monson. (Imrei Emeth) [polemic debate concerning the Kabbalistic writings of Isaac Luria and his disciple R. Chaim Vital].

The only known manuscript of R. Abraham Monson’s defense of R. Chaim Vital and his vehement rebuttal of R. Menachem di Lonzano’s criticism. R. Abraham Monson was a disciple of R. Betzalel Ashkenazi (author of Shitah Mekubetzeth) and served as a Rabbi in Egypt. According to Hillel (p. 64) Monson was also a disciple of R. Chaim Vital. A contemporary of R. Chaim Vital, R. Menachem di Lonzano was the author of Shtei Yadoth and Omer Man. An original thinker, he aggressively defended his conclusions and attacked both his predecessors and especially his contemporaries when he felt they misinterpreted earlier texts. At the same time, he felt their worth was as far above his as the “heaven is above the earth” (Shtei Yadoth, p. 83). The present manuscript is cited by the Chid’a in Shem Hagedolim who writes: “I have seen a manuscript by R. Abraham Monson in which he debates R. Menachem di Lonzano concerning his work Imrei Emeth criticizing the Kabbalah of R. Chaim Vital.” According to R. Moshe Hillel (Kuntress Imrei Emeth, in: Makabtziel Vol. 38 (2012) p.63), the first three leaves of this manuscript are written by a scribe and the final four leaves are autographed in the hand of the Kabbalist R. Abraham Monson. According to the scholar Yoseph Avivi (see accompanying description) there are presently two known manuscripts of Lonzano’s work, one in the British Library and the other in the library of the JTSA. However, neither contain the section of Lonzano’s critique of R. Chaim Vital which comprises the first part of this manuscript, or the four leaves of the harsh rebuttal by R. Abraham Monson. Avivi states that this was the manuscript seen by the Chida. According to Hillel, this manuscript is important both for it’s depth in discussing some of the major issues of Kabbalah and for Monson’s support of the reliability of R. Chaim Vital and his fidelity to the words of the Ari Zal.