Biur al Hatorah [Kabbalistic homilies to the Pentateuch].

Auction 95 | Thursday, November 11th, 2021 at 11:00am
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinic Letters, Ceremonial & Graphic Art

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Lot 257
RECANATI, MENACHEM.

Biur al Hatorah [Kabbalistic homilies to the Pentateuch].

Second edition. Printer’s device on title. Initial letters of each of the Five Books historiated. The Israel Mehlman copy. ff. 235. Stained, some worming, few leaves supplied from another copy, marginal paper repairs. Modern boards. 4to. Vinograd, Venice 253.

Venice: Cornelio Adelkind for Giustiniani 1545

Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Recanati’s commentary to the Chumash is the very first of its kind, permeated as it is with the conceptions of the early Kabbalists. It is the first to refer to the Books of the Zohar and the Bahir, from which a large number of citations, along with their interpretations, are provided. The author was one of the foremost Italian Kabbalists and Halachic authorities of the 13th-century. For a full appreciation of his significance, see M. Idel, R. Menahem Recanati, HaMekubal (1998).