Ayelet Ahavim [Kabbalistic commentary to the Song of Songs, with text]

ALKABETZ, SOLOMON HALEVI

Daniel Adelkind

Venice

1552

FIRST EDITION. Title within garlanded architectural arch. Text in square Hebrew letters with nikud (vowel points), commentary in Rash”i letters. The Solomon B. Freehoff Copy.

Vinograd, Venice 429; Habermann, Adelkind 6; Adams B-1558

Solomon Alkabetz (c. 1505-1584) was a liturgical poet and Kabbalist, venerated today as the composer of “Lechah Dodi,” a mystic love-song to the Sabbath, recited Friday evening in the synagogue. Alkabetz, together with other members of a mystic fraternity headed by R. Joseph Caro, emigrated from the Balkans to the Land of Israel, settling in Safed in 1535. Much less is known of his biography than of the other great Safedan kabbalists. Alkabetz was a prolific author, producing commentaries to 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. See EJ, Vol. II, cols. 635-7