(Saks da Castellazzo) (Editor). Heichal Hashem [collected essays by early Kabbalists]

ASCHKENAZI, YECHIEL

Daniel Zanetti

Venice

(1594)

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut decorative cartouche. On title, signature of former owner

Vinograd, Venice 793; St. Cat. Bodl. 5654 (libri rari)

A compilation of various Kabbalistic works, including a treatise on reincarnation according to the views of R. Shimon b. Yochai and Pythagoras (f. 36r.), and writings of R. Joseph Gikatilla (f. 38r.), Shem Tov Gaon (f. 41r.) and R. Isaac Luria (ff. 44r., 46v.-47r.). The 16th-century Kabbalistic author was a member of the Castellazzo family, who were of German origin and settled in Castellazzo Bormida, near Alessandria in Northern Italy. Steinschneider, followed by Jellinek and Weiner (no. 3099) ascribe the first essay, Sepher HaShem, to Moses de Leon since a poem with the acrostic "Moshe" appears on p. 34b. Gershom Scholem however, in one of his early articles (Kiryat Sepher, Vol. I [1924], pp. 45-52) asserts that it is a later work. Also contains one of the earliest printed versions of the hymn Bar-Yochai by the Tripolitan Kabbalist R. Simeon Labi (ff.44v.-45r.)