Gikatilia, Joseph. Sha'arei Tzedek.

(KABBALAH)

Pisa (Italy)

1548

Italki Hebrew script. Broad margins. Colophon on f.107r.

CLASSIC WORK OF KABBALAH IN THE HAND OF SAMUEL DA PISA, SCION OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS FAMILY OF ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCHOLARS and international financiers (see EJ, Vol. XIII, cols. 563-64. Like Gikatilia's more famous work Sha'arei Orah published in Riva di Trento in 1561, the present manuscript is intended as an introduction to the wisdom of the Kabbalah, systematically leading the reader through the Ten Sephiroth in ascending order from the Sephirah of Malchuth through the Sephirah of Kether. Prof. Farber-Ginat opines that Sha'arei Tzedek is in reality an early version ("mahadura kama") of Sha'arei Orah. This is the only plausible explanation for the considerable overlap between the two works. At the conclusion of our manuscript (ff.108v.-115v.), appears Sod ha-Chashmal (The Mystery of the Electrum) which contains varients from the published edition (Venice, 1601) Joseph Gikatilia (or Chiquatilla) (1248-1325) was one of the first expositors of Spanish Kabbalah, interfacing with Moses de Leon of Guadalajara, famed for his publication of the Zohar. See G. Scholem, Kabbalah (1974), pp. 409-11; A. Farber-Ginat, R. Joseph Gikatilla's Commentary to Ezekiel's Chariot (1998) p. 17, no. 3 (Sod ha-Chashmal) A more detailed survey of this manuscript is available upon request.