Sha’arei Orah [Kabbalah].

GIKATILLA, YOSEPH.

(Jacob Marcaria the Physician)

Riva di Trento

1561

FIRST EDITION. Initial letters of title within decorative vignettes, initial word of text within historiated woodcut frame. Manuscript notes on title, relating the Sefiroth to corresponding Divine Names.

Vinograd, Riva 34.

R. Joseph Gikatilla (Chiquatilla) (1248-c.1325) was a disciple of the founder of the School of “Prophetic Kabbalah,” R. Avraham Abulafia, and close colleague of R. Moshe de Leon of Guadalajara. For centuries, Sha’arei Orah has been viewed as a first-rate guide to the systematic presentation of the Sephiroth (Divine emanations) and their code names. Given its broad appeal, R. Chaim of Volozhin was known to recommend the work to his students as an important introduction to the study of Kabbalah.