GABBAI, MEIR IBN. Tola'ath Ya'akov ["Worm of Jacob": kabbalistic commentary to prayer]

The Spanish exile Meir ben Ezekiel ibn Gabbai (1480-after 1540) provides a comprehensive summation of the Kabbalah as it existed immediately before its efflorescence in Safed. The title of the present work, Tola'ath Ya'akov is derived from the Rabbinic maxim: "Israel are compared to a worm; just as a worm's power lies in its mouth, so Israel's power lies in their mouths [i.e., the power of prayer]" (see Introduction). Tola’ath Ya’akov is frequently cited as a source in the later kabbalistic works of R. Isaiah Horowitz (Shela"h) and R. Chaim Joseph David Azulai (Chid"a). This is one of only four Hebrew books printed in the short-lived press at Bohuslav (in the Kiev province of Ukraine), all within the years 1820-1821. See Brad Sabin Hill ed., Hebrew Printing in Ukraine, I. Edward Kiev Collection, George Washington University, Exhibition (2008), No. 38 (facsimile of title).