Sha‘ar ha-Kavvanot (The Gate of Mystical Intentions), Hayyim Vital, Scribe: Moses Mandil, Jerusalem: 5502 (=1742): with marginal notes of the Hida.

254 leaves (7 7/8 x 6 1/2 in. ; 200 x 165 mm). misfoliated: [i], 1, 8-13, 15-43, 43-101, 235-246, 347, 247-291, 293-346, 348-367, 367-392 =254 leaves. Lacking ff. 1-6, 14, 102-234, 292.

Rabbi David ha-Kohen: Rabbi Hayyim Joseph David Azulai

A copy of Sha‘ar ha-Kavvanot, one of the eight she‘arim edited by Samuel Vital in his Shemonah She‘arim, treating the Lurianic mystical intentions required during the prayers recited throughout the year, on weekdays, Sabbaths, and holidays. The scribe, Moses Mandil, was a well-known and trusted copyist of kabbalistic manuscripts active in Jerusalem and Constantinople in the mid-eighteenth century. Signed by the scribe: 1 Elul 5502 (August 31, 1742) (fol. 392b).

Importantly, this manuscript features marginalia in the hand of Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (also known as Hida; 1724-1806), the famous rabbinic scholar, kabbalist, bibliographer, and emissary of the Land of Israel (e.g., fols. 285b, 293b, 294b, 295a, 296a, 300b). In one place (fol. 299a), Hida actually signed his name at the end of a comment. The manuscript also features marginalia by one David ha-Kohen, probably the rabbi of Modena (d. 1782), whose name appears on the verso of the final leaf. Ha-Kohen’s brother, Ishmael (1723-1811), was a well-known yeshivah head and author of responsa (Zera Emet) and was also a friend and correspondent of Hida’s. It may be that David’s copy of Sha‘ar ha-Kavvanot passed to Hida through Ishmael.