Sepher Sha’ar HaHakdamoth [Kabbalah]

VITAL, CHAIM

Yisrael Bak

Jerusalem

1850

First Edition. Floral border on title page, three woodcut illustrations of Jerusalem on ff. (2), 4.

The dissemination of the Kabbalistic teachings of the Ar’i (Isaac Luria) follows a complicated and rather convoluted path. His major disciple, R. Chaim Vital revised and edited his master’s teachings a number of times, thus accounting for the various versions of the Ari’s primary work, the Etz Chaim. The Sha’ar HaHakdamoth, which contains teachings of the Ar’i recorded by R. Chaim Vital, is the first volume of the Shemonah She’arim, arranged and edited by the author’s son R. Shmuel Vital. The Shemonah She’arim are an important source for the teachings of Lurianic Kabbalah, a school of Jewish mysticism that arose in the 16th century; its most prominent ideas are those of the Tzimtzum and Shevirat HaKeilim.