Vital, Chaim. Otzroth Chaim

AUCTION 27 | Tuesday, February 08th, 2005 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Autographed Letters, Manuscripts, Ceremonial & Graphic Art

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Lot 293
(KABBALAH)

Vital, Chaim. Otzroth Chaim

Manuscript. A very fine calligraphic Hebrew hand 17 x 21 cm. ff. 111. 35 lines per page. Black ink on thick paper. Some foxing. Modern calf

Maghreb (North Africa): circa 1700

Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Otzroth Chaim, a summary of the Lurianic cosmology, was not published until 1783 in Korzec (Koretz). Our manuscript version, is an amalgam of segments Otzroth Chaim together with segments of another summary by Vital, Mevo She’arim. This amalgamation was done in order to give a complete presentation of Rabbi Isaac Luria’s theory. This was necessary due to the fact that Mevo She’arim is an incomplete work, while Otzroth Chaim fails to give the total picture. This attempt to fuse the two works in one is typical of North African manuscripts. With grateful thanks to Yosef Avivi, Jerusalem, for his assistance in researching this text