Hadrath Melech (Part I) [Kabbalistic commentary on difficult passages in the Zohar based upon the Ari Zal and R. Chaim Vital]

BUZAGLO, SHALOM

G.J. Jansson and I. Mondovi

Amsterdam

1766

FIRST EDITION. With many marginal notes and corrections in two precise, neat hands - one in rabbinic letters similar to those printed and another in an Ashkenazic hand. Both scripts indicate missing words and entire lines which would most likely have been provided by the author and is apparently in his hand

Viinograd, Amsterdam 1893

Buzaglo, a Moroccan-born Kabbalist, lived his later years in London, where he died in 1780. Although of Sephardic orientation, he served as a member of the Aschkenazic London Beth Din. R. Saul of the Hague lauds him as “ha-Rav ha-Muvhak, ha-Dayan ha-Metzuyan.” His sterling reputation and his pre-eminence in kabbalistic matters were such that both R. Jonathan Eybeschuetz and R. Jacob Emden attempted to influence Buzgalo to endorse their positions. In addition to Mikdash Melech, the first systematic commentary on the entire Zohar ever to be published, this work contains commentaries on difficult passages of the Zohar. The book had an unusual publishing history. Part I was published in Amsterdam, even though according to the approbations of the brothers- in-law, R. Saul of Amsterdam and R. Saul of the Hague, the author was already a Dayan in London. Part II was published in London without a title page (see next lot)