AARON BERACHIAH OF MODENA. Ma’avar Yabok [prayers for the sick and the dead].

(LITURGY).

Judah Samuel

Mantua

1626

FIRST EDITION. Few marginal notations.

Vinograd, Mantua 220.

Includes the laws of visiting the sick and the correct modes of behavior toward the deceased and toward mourners. The author (d. 1639), studied along with some of the most storied figures of Italian Jewry. He was tutored in ‘Revealed’ Torah by R. Menachem Azariah of Fano and received rabbinical ordination from R. Yom Tov Zahalon. Furthermore, R. Aaron Berachiah was a close confidant of R. Israel Sarug, the fascinating figure who was singularly responsible for the transmission of Lurianic Kabbalah to the rabbinic scholars of Italy. In the introduction to the work, it is explained that the title of the book is an acrostic for the words “Unity, Blessing and Holiness” (Yichud, Berachah, Kedushah), through which one may cleave to God. Furthermore, the Yabok crossing was the site at which the Biblical Jacob entered the Land of Israel, Kabbalistically related to the Spirit World. Furthermore, there contain 112 chapters in the volume, the numerical equivalent to the Hebrew word “Yabok.”