Lot : 43

Shoresh Yishai by Rabbi Shlomo Elkabetz, author of Lecha Dodi
First Edition. Rare. Constantinople, 1561

Opening bid: $3,000

Shoresh Yishai by Rabbi Shlomo Elkabetz, author of Lecha Dodi

First Edition. Rare. Constantinople, 1561

Kabbalistic commentary on Megillas Rus by Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Elkabetz, composer of the Lecha Dodi sung all over the world in Kabbalas Shabbos.

The saintly kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo ben Moshe Halevi Elkabetz (c.1505-c.1584) was one of the great Kabbalists of Tzfas, as well as the brother-in-law and spiritual master of the Ramak. (See preface to Pardes Rimonim).

It is written in the sefer of the Shl”a (Maseches Shavuos) that Rabbi Shlomo learned together with Rabbi Yosef Karo one Shavuos night when a Maggid appeared to them from the heavens and taught them Torah, as Rabbi Shlomo himself described:

“We merited to hear the voice of the speaker [the maggid] talking to us from the mouth of the chassid [Rabbi Yosef Karo]; a great voice pronouncing every letter; and all the neighbors heard but did not understand. It was so pleasant and the voice grew stronger and more powerful, and we fell on our faces, and we did not possess the spirit to lift our eyes and face to see, out of the great awe and fear [that gripped us].”

This work was completed in Tzfas, 1553 (see colophon), and was printed in Rabbi Shlomo’s lifetime by his son Rabbi Moshe Halevi Elkabetz.

Constantinople, 1561. First edition.

Page Count: 96 leaves.

Condition: Good condition; nice copy; clean white pages. A few punctures and stains. Nice new cover.

——

This is a rare sefer.

In the second edition which was printed only 36 years later (Lublin, 1597), it was written about the edition before us: “It was printed a few years ago in Constantinople and it was so popular that it was sold out and only a few copies arrived in our region.”

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