Sepher Teshuvoth [responsa].

AUCTION 49 | Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters and Graphic Art

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Lot 116

FANO, MENACHEM AZARIAH DA.

Sepher Teshuvoth [responsa].

FIRST EDITION. With the rare final three leaves containing corrections and index. ff. 143. Some staining and worming, previous owners' signatures and inscriptions in Sephardic and Italian hands on front flyleaf and title, scattered marginalia in Sephardic and Italian hands. Modern morocco. 4to. Vinograd, Venice 913.

Venice: Daniel Zanetti (1600)

Est: $500 - $700

PRICE REALIZED $650

R. Menachem Azariah (1548-1620), of a well-to-do banking family in Bologna, Italy, was first a follower of the Cordoveran system of kabbalah but afterward, under the influence of R. Israel Sarug, switched his allegiance to the Lurianic school. The propagation of Safedan kabbalah in Europe was largely due to his prolific efforts. As is evident from this work he was also proficient in Halachah. See Robert Bonfil, “New Information on Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano and his Age” in: Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Period [Jacob Katz Festschrift] (1980), pp. 98-135; idem, “Halakhah, Kabbalah and Society: Some Insights into Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano’s inner world” in: Twersky and Septimus eds., Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, 1987).