TZEMACH, JACOB. Adam Yashar [Lurianic Kabbalah]

(KABBALAH).

(Eastern Europe)

Late 18th-century

Hebrew manuscript written in Aschkenazic cursive script on paper

Adam Yashar was first published in Cracow in 1885 and is lengthier than the present manuscript which reaches only to f.35v. of the printed version which totals ff. 94. At the bottom of f.99r. our text reads, "ve-ka-nizkar be-kavannath beityh yamim tovim de-rosh ha-shanah," and continues in that same vein, "be-chol ha-olamoth yesh penimiyuth ve-chitzoniyuth." On the other hand, the printed version after "ve-ka-nizkar be-kavannath beityh yamim shel rosh ha-shanah" (f.35v.) begins something totally new and unrelated "Drerush ha-Kelipoth." (Cf. Ohel Chaim, Lehmann Catalogue, Vol. I Kabbalistic Manuscripts (1988), p. 52, where another East European ms. of Adam Yashar treats Derushei ha-Kelipoth as a separate book altogether!) Thus, it is likely that the material in our manuscript from f.99r. until f.102r. or a total of 31 leaves is not to be found in the printed version. (From f.102v. until the end of the manuscript are Indices.) R. Jacob Tzemach (d. after 1665) was born a converso in Portugal where he served as a physician. He settled in Salonika and later in Tzefath. In 1628 he arrived in Damascus with the intention of studying Lurianic Kabbalah under R. Samuel Vital (son of R. Chaim Vital, the only authorized disciple of R. Isaac Luria). Tzemach arranged several works of Lurianic teachings including: Otzeroth Chaim (Koretz, 1783) and Olath Tamid (Salonika, 1854). See G. Scholem, Kabbalah (1974), p. 445; EJ, Vol. XVI, col. 984