Vital, Chaim. Otzroth Chaim

(KABBALAH)

Maghreb (North Africa)

circa 1700

Manuscript. A very fine calligraphic Hebrew hand

Otzroth Chaim, a summary of the Lurianic cosmology, was not published until 1783 in Korzec (Koretz). Our manuscript version, is an amalgam of segments Otzroth Chaim together with segments of another summary by Vital, Mevo She’arim. This amalgamation was done in order to give a complete presentation of Rabbi Isaac Luria’s theory. This was necessary due to the fact that Mevo She’arim is an incomplete work, while Otzroth Chaim fails to give the total picture. This attempt to fuse the two works in one is typical of North African manuscripts. With grateful thanks to Yosef Avivi, Jerusalem, for his assistance in researching this text