Gala Amikta, Ephraim Panzieri, [17th-18th century]

258 folios (13 ½ x 8 inches; 342 x 205 mm). Written in Sephardic semi-cursive script  in black ink, catchwords, original foliation in ink in Hebrew letters, modern foliation in pencil; several small ink stains on fol. 1, stains on fols. 120-124r, some light dampstains to upper inner corners, overall in fine condition.  Modern full morocco,  black calf spine labels.

Hartwig Hirschfeld, Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library and of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Jews' College, London, 1904 (mss. no. 326); Joseph Avivi, Binyan Ariel (Jerusalem, 1987), p. 24 (in Hebrew)

Contents

Fols. 1r-6v: Sha’ar ha-Kelalim by Joseph Arzin, Moses Jonah and Moses Najara, as well as other Lurianic writings.

Fols. 7r-258: 

A fine copy of the second part of Gala Amikta, Rabbi Ephraim Panzieri’s redaction of Sefer ha-Kavvanot, Rabbi Hayyim Vital’s teachings on the proper intentions one must have during prayer.  Panzieri, a physician and kabbalist, flourished in Constantinople about 1550 and traveled to Damascus to study under Hayyim Vital. He led an ascetic life there and was revered as a saint. This text also contains glosses by Jacob Zemah, a member of a Converso family northern Portugal, who settled in Safed sometime between 1610 and 1620.  Around 1628 he left for Damascus, and studied the Lurianic Kabbalah under Samuel ben Hayyim Vital. Around 1640 he settled in Jerusalem where he became one of the leading kabbalists. He was among the Jerusalem opponents of Shabbetai Zevi who excommunicated him when he first claimed to be the messiah in 1665. A portion of the present manuscript is annotated with cross-references to the first edition of Sefer ha-Kavvanot published in Venice in 5380 (1620). 

The name David Lopez Perrera is indicated in a multi-page acrostic and likely reflects the identity of either the scribe or the original owner of the manuscript.