Shoresh Yishai [Kabbalistic commentary to the Book of Ruth, with text]

ALKABETZ, SOLOMON HALEVI.

Solomon ibn Usque

Constantinople

1561

FIRST EDITION. Title within architectural arch, wide margins. The Prof. Isaiah Tishby copy, with his signature on verso of title, scattered marginal notes in an earlier Sephardic hand and further notes and underlinings by Tishby.

Vinograd, Const. 221; Yaari, Const. 163.

Solomon Alkabetz (c. 1505-84) was a liturgical poet and Kabbalist, venerated today as the composer of “Lechah Dodi,” a mystical love-song to the Sabbath Queen chanted at sundown on Friday. Alkabetz, together with other members of a mystic fraternity headed by R. Joseph Karo, emigrated from the Balkans to the Land of Israel, settling in Safed in 1535. He was a prolific author, producing commentaries on Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, the Minor Prophets, Psalms, Job and the Passover Haggadah. R. Moses Cordovero was initially Alkabetz’s disciple, although it seems that eventually their relationship was reversed with Alkabetz becoming a student of Cordovero.