Sepher Ha’gilgulim [“The Book of Wanderings”-on the transmigration of souls]

VITAL, CHAIM.

Nathan Gruenhut

Frankfurt am Main

1684

FIRST EDITION. Title within typographical border.

Vinograd, Frankfurt am Main 59

Chaim Vital expounds Isaac Luria’s teachings on metempsychosis, and the parallel theory of impregnation of souls (Ibbur). According to the AR”I, every soul must migrate through other bodies in order to rid themselves of particles of evil. A refined soul will enter the body of another man and impregnate its soul to help it assist in the struggle for purity. The first published work of Chaim Vital. The Rabbis of Frankfurt took offense to the work’s kabbalistic erotic imagery and opposed its’ publication due to the Sabbatian movement which still raged rampant. Consequently, the editor, David Greunhut, a reknowned kabbalist and talmudist in his own right, commissioned Gentile printers over whom the Rabbis had no influence, to issue the text. See M. Waxman, Vol. II pp. 417-18.