Bidspirit auction | The First Kabbalistic Sefer Ever

The First Kabbalistic Sefer Ever Printed!! Recanati on the Torah. First Edition. Bomberg  Venice, 1523. * A commentary on the Torah according to Kabbalistic teachings, authored by Rabbi Menachem Recanati, one of the earliest Kabbalists of Italy in the 13th century. The Sefer Recanati is the very first classic Kabbalistic sefer ever to be printed. Rabbi Menachem Recanati’s commentary is entirely devoted to interpreting the Torah according to the teachings of Kabbalah. The Zohar is mentioned in it approximately five hundred times (!) - making this one of the earliest printed works to reference the Zohar even before its own publication. He also frequently cites Sefer HaBahir and Sefer Heichalot, explains the writings of the Ramban in the context of Kabbalistic thought, and draws from the teachings of the early Ashkenazic Kabbalists, including the Rokeach and Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid. The sefer's influence upon all subsequent Kabbalists is immense, with many drawing their first and primary understandings of Kabbalah from it, and through it were introduced to the holy Zohar — both the Spanish Kabbalists of the expulsion era and the first Kabbalists at the beginning of the spread of Kabbalah. The Ramak, in his sefer Pardes, frequently brings his words and refers to him as “the pious Rabbeinu Menachem, ” and writes about him: ”For it is well known to all who learn his sefarim, his piety and righteousness” (Pardes Rimonim, Gate 4, Chapter 3). Rabbi Chaim Vital relies on his words in his well-known introduction regarding the early Kabbalists, and similarly, the holy Shlah often quotes important foundations from his sefer. The Levush composed a commentary on this sefer and in his introduction, referred to him as ”the head of the Kabbalists, father of the wise”. Rabbi Yehuda Chait, one of the great Spanish Kabbalists of the expulsion era, when recommending which Kabbalistic sefarim are worthy of study, writes: ”And the sefarim of the Rav, Rabbi Menachem Recanati, of blessed memory — let them be a sign upon your hand” (at the end of the introduction to Minchas Yehudah on Ma'areches HaElohus, Ferrara 1558). Venice 1523. First edition. Daniel Bomberg press. Page Count: [154] leaves, including a blank leaf between sefer Vayikra and Bamidbar. Size: 24 cm. Condition: Good, with several small holes and light stains, censor erasures. New, luxurious leather binding. Signatures of Italian Rabbanim appear on the title page — Rabbi David Piatze of the Rabbanim of Florence (see Mazekeres Rabanei Italia, p. 49), and Rabbi Yaakov Baruch Kohen Vitale, with a few handwritten glosses of his (mentioned by Nipi-Girondi, pp. 239, 225). Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod no. 338