AZULAI, ABRAHAM

Although R. Moshe Shapira's name is not listed on the title of the first work, he is referred to in the approbation of his predecessor, the Rabbi of Slavuta (later of Sheptivka), R. Yaakov Shimshon, as the "son of the Holy Light R. Pinchas" [of Koretz]. Possibly he did not as yet have an official license to print books in his own name. Ma'amar Bechinath Olam is a profound poetic composition on the futility and vanity of the World and the inestimably greater benefits of intellectual and religious pursuits. The author, a native of Beziers, Provence, finds consolation in Maimonides’ world of ideas, concluding that the greatest achievement for Man is to “perfect one’s understanding and immerse oneself in the grandeur of the idea of God.”