Gikatilla, Joseph. Portae Lucis (“Gates of Light.”) Paulus Ricius’s Latin translation of substantial portions of Sha’arei Orah.

(KABBALAH)

Johannes Miller

Augsburg

1516

FIRST EDITION IN ANY LANGUAGE . Latin interspersed with vocalized Hebrew. Exquisite title woodcut by Hans Burgkmayr. Title in red and black. Latin kabbalistic chart on f. 44v. Tailpiece of man in armor.

Scholem, Bibliographia Kabbalistica (1933), p. 128, no. 942; EJ, Vol. X, col. 635 (facsimile of title).

THE BOOK THAT OPENED THE PORTAL OF KABBALAH TO CHRISTIAN HEBRAISTS. Sha’arei Orah, a work roughly contemporaneous with the publication of the Zohar, was composed by the Spanish Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla toward the end of the 13th century. It has served countless generations of aspiring students as a systematic primer of Kabbalah. By translating the work into Latin, Paulus Ricius, a converted Jew, made available to Christians for the first time, what amounts to an introductory course in the concepts and keywords of the Kabbalah. Ironically, the Hebrew original of this classic work would not be published for another 45 years (Mantua, 1561). See EJ, Vol. X, col. 646.