Auction Closed
June 5, 04:47 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A COMMENTARY ON THE ZOHAR FROM THE SCHOOL OF RABBI JONATHAN EIBESCHUETZ, [ASHKENAZ: SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY]
224 folios (6 3/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 170 x 105 mm) (collation: [2], i8, ii-iii6, iv8, v6, vi-viii8, ix6, x-xv8, xvi-xvii4, xviii-xxviii8, xxix-xxx6, [2]) on paper; premodern foliation in pen in Hebrew characters in upper-outer corner of recto (ff. 1-24); modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-outer corner of recto (ff. 1a, 1b-62a, 62b-183a, 183b-221) (cited); two blanks (ff. 1b, 183b); written in Ashkenazic square (some Zohar page references and incipits) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in brown, gray, and black ink on an inconsistent number of lines; unruled; justification of lines via use of anticipatory letters and ornamental space fillers; no vocalization; catchwords at the foot of each page starting on f. 6r; blank spaces left between parashiyyot; extensive marginalia, strikethroughs, and corrections throughout, sometimes in hand of primary scribe, sometimes in later hands. Slight scattered staining; wormtracks throughout, most prominently near gutter and at times affecting legibility; some foxing; edges lightly browned; episodic short tears at foot; margins cropped, with occasional losses to marginalia or top line; a few pages loose, f. 221 separating along with the binding. Half leather over board; upper board completely detached, lower board almost completely detached, both exhibiting wear and worming; remnants of brass clasp on fore-edge; paper ticket on spine; red-speckled edges; contemporary paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
A newly discovered survival from a secret kabbalistic sect.
Recognized in his youth as a prodigy, Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschuetz (ca. 1694-1764) would go on to become a leader of eighteenth-century European Jewry and a prolific author, composing halakhic and homiletical tracts, as well as over one hundred amulets. One of the kabbalistic treatises attributed to him early in his career was a controversial work entitled Va-avo ha-yom el ha-ayin (“I came today to the spring”; see Gen. 24:42), which expounded a theology deriving from the teachings of the Sabbatian messianic sect. Yehuda Liebes, an expert on Kabbalah and Sabbatianism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has identified a small group of writings similar in content, style, and terminology to Va-avo, a number of which, he claims, were written by Eibeschuetz’s son Wolf (ca. 1740-ca. 1806).
The present manuscript is an unpublished, page-by-page commentary on the Zohar to parts of Genesis and Exodus, which, Liebes believes, also belongs to this cluster of Va-avo-influenced tracts and may even be in the same hand as a Jerusalem manuscript (National Library of Israel Ms. Heb. 28°3100) containing some of the aforementioned material (including Va-avo). On f. 118r, the author refers to a question posed by “my teacher, Rabbi J., may the memory of the righteous be a blessing” – a question asked by Eibeschuetz in his work Hitsei yehonatan (Lvov, 1784; though the answer given there is of a halakhic, rather than a kabbalistic, nature). Further scholarly examination may reveal important information regarding the esoteric belief system of Eibeschuetz, his son, and their followers.
Sotheby’s is grateful to Yehuda Liebes for providing information that aided in the cataloging of this manuscript.
Contents
f. 1a: snatches of passages from the work; f. 1b: blank;
ff. 2r-155r: commentary on Zohar 1:172b-249b (pagination used in this manuscript follows that of the Mantua 1558-1560 edition);
ff. 155r-183a: commentary on Zohar 2:2a-22b; f. 183b: blank;
ff. 184r-218r: commentary on Zohar 2:32b-51b; f. 218v: blank;
f. 219r-v: additional kabbalistic material;
f. 220r-v: commentary on Zohar 2:47b-48a (these pages had been skipped between ff. 213v and 214r);
f. 221r-v: repetition of the commentary featured on f. 211r-v.
Literature
Yehuda Liebes, “Hibbur bi-leshon ha-zohar le-r. volf ben r. yehonatan eibeschuetz al havurato ve-al sod ha-ge’ullah,” Kiryat sefer 57,1 (1982): 148-178; 57,2 (1982): 368-379.
Yehuda Liebes, “Ketavim hadashim be-kabbalah shabbeta’it me-hugo shel r. yehonatan eibeschuetz,” Mehkerei yerushalayim be-mahashevet yisra’el 5 (1986): 191-348.
Paweł Maciejko (ed.), Va-avo ha-yom el ha-ayin: kunteres be-kabbalah le-r. yehonatan eibeschuetz (Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2014), 183-209.
Paweł Maciejko, “A Portrait of the Kabbalist as a Young Man: Count Joseph Carl Emmanuel Waldstein and His Retinue,” The Jewish Quarterly Review 106,4 (Fall 2016): 521-576, at pp. 561-576.
Jerusalem, National Library of Israel Ms. Heb. 28°3100 (http://beta.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH000045531/NLI#$FL13403923)