Derech Emunah [“The Way of Faith”- Kabbalah]

IBN GABBAI, MEIR.

Lorenzo Pasquato

Padua

1563

Second edition. Title within architectural arch incorporating vignette. Previous owner's inscription on final page

Vinograd, Padua 1; JNUL copy incomplete; not in Adams

THE FIRST HEBREW BOOK PRINTED IN PADUA. Despite the ancient presence of the University—one of the great institutions of learning in Europe—only two Hebrew books were printed in Padua throughout the 16th century. See Amram, pp. 338-341 and 387-388. A kabbalist of the generation of Spanish exiles, the details of Meir ibn Gabbai’s life are uncertain. It is known that he was born in 1480 and died some time after 1539. He was one of the leading proponents of the view that the Sefiroth are the essence of Divinity. In Derech Emunah, which is writen as a Socratic dialogue, ibn Gabbai offers an explanation for the doctrine of the Sefiroth. For a brief biographical overview of the author, see A.Yaari, Kiryath Sepher IX(1933), pp. 388-93. In 1988, Derech Emunah was reprinted by KeHoT, the publishing arm of the Lubavitch movement, to celebrate the return of the 1563 edition that had been famously removed from the Lubavitch Library. Upon the occasion, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem M. Schneerson spoke at length concerning this work and encouraged his followers to produce a new edition. The editors of this new, annotated edition speculate that the first edition of the Derech Emunah (Constantinople, 1560), of which to date, only two leaves are extant, was in fact never completed