Hebrew Manuscript on paper

Othioth DerAbi Akiva

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Elegant late18th-century Aschkenazic cursive script. With stamp of R. Aaron Moshe Mi-Geza Tzvi of Brod and ex-libris of Arthur Wolpe

This manuscript is copied from a printed edition that was first published in Constantinople, 1515-20 and is ascribed to the sage Rabbi Akiva. It presents Aggadic homilies tinged with Kabbalistic renderings to each letter of the Alphabet. The names of the letters, even the individual letters that spell each name of each letter - all are infused with individual mystical value and ethical importance. Much is made of the combinations of letters, especially those forming the names of God. Also discussed is the role of the angel Metatron as mediator between God and man. According to Waxman, “this kind of teaching is really in direct opposition to the teachings of R. Akiva and other scholars of his age, who on the contrary, endevored to minimize the importance of the angels...and yet, strangely enough, such teachings [are] ascribed to him.” See M. Waxman, Vol. I, pp.382-3 The prior owner of the manuscript, R. Aaron Moshe Mi-Geza Tzvi of Brod (1775- 1849) was the founder and first Chassidic Rabbi of the Chassidic community of Jerusalem, arriving there in 1839. He was a disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin and R. Uri of Strelisk. He was held in high esteem by both the Aschkenazic and Sephardic communities and is cited by R. Shlomo Pinso in his work Shem Chadash, Jerusalem 1843. See A. Frumkin, Toldoth Chachmei Yerushalayim, Part III, p. 222-3 with aditional note by E. Rivlin