HaNephesh HaChachamah [Kabbalistic discourses on the fate awaiting the soul after death and the mystical significance of the precepts]. Also includes commentaries by R. Moses de Leon and R. Joseph Gikatilla to the Passover Hagadah.

Estimate

$1,000–$1,500

Hammer price

$1,000

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

MOSES BEN SHEM TOV DE LEON.

printer

Konrad Waldkirch

Place

Basle

Publication

1608

Description

FIRST EDITION . Title within typographical border.

references

Vinograd, Basle 231; Prijs, Basle 194

summary

Moses de Leon of Guadalajara (c. 1240-1305) was one of the greatest Spanish kabbalists of his day, indeed scholars have attributed to him - rather than to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the putative author - the composition of the Zohar. Painstaking comparisons have been made of de Leon’s other works, such as our HaNephesh HaChachamah, to ascertain whether there is any overlap with the Zohar in terms of style, language and terminology, as well as to determine whether the two kabbalistic systems are divergent or not. See G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1967) pp. 159-204; see also EJ, Vol. XII, cols. 425-6

ff. (64). Lightly browned, old signature on title. Modern morocco. Sm. 4to.

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