(Attributed to). Ma’arecheth ha-Elo-huth [Kabbalah]. With commentary by Judah Chayat and anonymous commentary

PERETZ BEN ISAAC HAKOHEN.

Abraham ibn Usque

Ferrara

1558

FIRST EDITION. On title, printer's mark of Abraham Usque: an astrolabe and verse from Isaiah 40:31 (Yaari, pl. 22; Yudlov, p. 25). Wide-margined copy. Hebrew marginalia

Vinograd, Ferrara 49; Adams P-668

One of the most significant works on the Kabbalah due to its systematic treatment of all relevant themes in earlier literature. Its contribution to speculative mystic theory in pre-Zoharite Kabbalistic literature is the increased symbolism of the Sephiroth. The author quotes a multitude of names by which each Sephirah is known, each signifying a differing function. He also develops the “Adam Kadmon” theory, whereby the likeness of the order of the Divine Powers of the Sephiroth to the human body is explored. In the same year of 1558, two editions of Ma’arecheth ha-Elo-huth appeared, one in Mantua (see next Lot), the other in Ferrara. In the present Ferrara edition, the anonymous commentary is designated simply “Peirush,” whereas in the Mantua edition it bears the initials Pa”Z, for “Peirush Zulath” (“Another Commentary”). According to Scholem, the Ferrara version of the commentary has several important passages lacking in the Mantua edition. G. Scholem, Studies in Kabbalah I (Tel Aviv, 1998), p. 176 The ascription to “R. Peretz the Tosaphist” has long been discredited. For contemporary scholarly opinion, see “On the Problem of Sepher Ma’arecheth he-Elo-huth and Its Commentaries” in: Gershom Scholem, Studies in Kabbalah I, pp. 171-188. Recently, Prof. Ephraim Gottlieb identified the author of the anonymous commentary “Paz” as R. Reuben Sarfati. See S. Heller-Wilensky and M. Idel eds., Mechkarim be-Haguth Yehudith (Jerusalem, 1989), pp. 357-369