Peirush al ha’Torah al Derach Ha’emeth-Sepher Recanati [commentary on the Pentateuch]

RECANATI, MENACHEM.

Daniel Bomberg

Venice

1523

FIRST EDITION. WITH important Kabbalistic marginal notes in many Ashkenazic hands from the 16th and 17th Centuries. Owners' signatures include several generations of the distinguished Auerbach Rabbinical Family of Germany. Title inscribed also by an early owner (c.1560), one Solomon ben Judah, who solemnly attests to desist from gambling for twenty years - with a postscript foreswearing alcohol for ten years.

Vinograd, Venice 85; Habermann, Bomberg 84; Mehlman 1113; Adams M- 1243

Recanati was the foremost Italian Kabbalist and Halachic authority of the13th century. This commentary to the Pentateuch is permeated with the early Kabbalists new conceptions, and is the first of its kind: It is the first to quote the Zohar and the Bahir, from which a large number of citations together with their interpretations are provided. For a full appreciation of the importance of the author, see M. Idel, R. Menachem Recanati, Hamekubal (1998) pp. 79-80 quoting Prof. Y. Ta-Shema concerning otherwise unknown scholars cited by Recanati. Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe, author of the "Levushim" which includes a commentary on this work, calls Recanati "Rosh Kablanim" (Chief of Kabbalists) and "Av Li'nevonim" (Father of those who Understand). This Copy With: 25-leaves of manuscripts and spherical diagrams tipped in at beginning and end. Containing lengthy notes and full treatises pertaining to Kabbalah and philosophy. * Important diagram on f.(1) depicting the flow of the various Sefiroth and their equivalents with the names of God, based upon the Sha'arei Orah. Prof. Moshe Idel has accumulated a collection of hundreds of "Sefirot Trees" none of which depict this character of flow (from 'Hod' to 'Malchuth'). See Pardes Rimonim, Sha'ar Ha'tzimorot ch. 3, p.15, in author's hand where the flow is from Yesod to Malchuth. * f.(9)v contains an important manuscript version of the Last Will and Testament of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid. This version contains variances and additional material not included in the standard published editions. In some cases annotating specific instructions the copyist intended for his children, including the prohibition of two brothers marrying two sisters (para. 14). * f.12v-14r concerns a Kabbalistic treatise on the Sefiroh similar to that found in Derech Emunah by Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai but with many variances and additional material. * f.14v-15r contains a possibly unpublished account of the Asara Harugei Malchuth and a Kabbalistic "Sod" concerning this matter. (See versions cited by J.D. Eisenstein, Otzar Midrashim, p. 439-450.) * Final 6 leaves contain important commentaries to the first three Books of the Pentateuch written in three columns in various late 15th-16th Century Ashkenazic hands. These commentaries are composed in the style of the Chasidei Aschkenaz utilizing Gematriyoth and Notrikon. The lengthy annotations throughout the book contain explanations and variant readings of Recanti's citations of the Sepher Habahir and Zohar. The annotator had access to various Kabbalistic manuscripts. He cites what he found in "Likutei Kabbalah" on f. 59v and 135r. With grateful thanks to both Yosef Avivi, Jerusalem and Professor Moshe Idel, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, for their assistance in researching these manuscripts.