Tzeror ha-Mor [“Bundle of Myrrh”: Kabbalistic commentary to the Pentateuch]

SABA, ABRAHAM

Daniel Bomberg

Venice

1523

FIRST EDITION. On f.2, former owner’s inscription in Hebrew,“Ne’um Baruch ha-mechuneh Bendet.” And in Italian, “Questo seffer e dell’ Sign. Bendet.” On final page, censor’s signature, “Dominico Irosolimitano, 1593.” See Wm. Popper, pl. III, no. 1. On back flyleaf, “Questo libro sacro e’ di me David Segre, Saluzzo, 23 Marzo, 1838.” Saluzzo is a town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. The Segres are a distinguished Piedmontese family

Vinograd, Venice 86; Habermann, Bomberg 83; not in Adams; Heller, Vol. I, pp. 154-5

Exiled from his native Castile, no sooner did Saba take refuge in Oporto, Portugal, than King Emanuel ordered (24th December, 1496) all Jews converted and all Hebrew books burned. Saba’s sons were forcibly baptized and his extensive library plundered. He managed to save his own works in manuscript, and buried them outside Lisbon. However, in time, he was forced out of Portugal altogether and escaped to Fez, Morocco, where he attempted to recommit from memory works he was forced to abandon in Portugal. After residing ten years in Fez, Saba travelled to Italy. In the midst of a sea tempest, the captain of the vessel requested that the rabbi pray for the safety of the passengers. Evidently, Saba struck a deal with the captain that in exchange for his prayers, the captain would not - if it became necessary - bury him at sea as was the sea-faring custom. Sure enough Saba died while at sea, and the captain, kept his word, and brought him for burial to the Jewish community of Verona. See N.S. Libowitz, R. Avraham Saba u-Sepharav (1936).