Ma’amar Tzivoth Hashem [kabbalah]

FANO, MENACHEM AZARIAH DA.

Tzvi Hirsch Margalioth

Shklow

1785

Vinograd, Shklow 36; Yaari, Shklow 30.

The sixth of ten Kabbalistic treatises, collectively entitled Asarah Ma’amaroth. R. Menachem Azariah (1548-1620), of a well-to-do banking family in Bologna, Italy, was originally a follower of the Cordoveran system of Kabbalah but afterward, under the influence of R. Israel Sarug, switched his allegiance to the Lurianic school. The propagation in Europe of Kabbalah emanating from Safed was largely due to his prolific efforts. See Robert Bonfil, New Information on Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano and his Age, in: Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Period [Jacob Katz Festschrift] (1980) pp. 98-135.