SEFER TORAT HA-ADAM (TREATISE ON END-OF-LIFE ISSUES AND THE AFTERLIFE), RABBI MOSES NAHMANIDES, CONSTANTINOPLE, 1518

The first edition of an influential halakhic treatise.

Rabbi Moses Nahmanides’ (1194-1270) Sefer torat ha-adam is a comprehensive and unique monograph on the laws concerning illness, death, and mourning. This groundbreaking work served as a foundation for subsequent treatments of a broad range of topics, including the messianic era, the afterlife, and resurrection. In thirty chapters, Nahmanides deals with every aspect of the end of life, beginning with the onset of serious illness and the obligation to visit the sick, followed by a guide to the laws of mourning. Great importance was attached to the work by the leading codifiers: Rabbi Jacob ben Asher incorporated it, in its actual order and form and with corresponding sections, in his Sefer arba‘ah turim (see lots 30, 112, 166), as did Rabbi Joseph Caro later in his Shulhan arukh (see lots 37, 114). Of special interest on its own account is Sha‘ar ha-gemul, the last chapter of the book, which integrates kabbalistic concepts into an extended eschatological discussion. Sha‘ar ha-gemul was published separately in Naples in 1490 and has been frequently reprinted since.