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Manuscript, Sefer HaLikutim by Rabbi Chaim Vital – Morocco, 18th Century - Manuscript, Sefer HaLikutim by R. Chaim Vital. [Morocco, ca. early 18th century]. Large-format volume, in neat Western script written by several scribes. The handwriting on the first leaves is apparently that of R. Shimon ibn Yitzhak Al-Muallim (known from several manuscripts he copied, including the book Adam Yashar, Fez, 1720 – JTS Ms. 1781). On p. 19b was incorporated a gloss in the name of the Yaavetz, in parentheses (and in smaller letters), ending with: ”See Otzrot Chaim which was copied for me in Tétouan, leaf 173. So says Yaakov Abensour son of R. Reuven”. Under this gloss appears a line in a different script, signed with the initials of R. Refael Abensour (apparently the second, son of R. Shlomo Shmuel Abensour). On the following page (p. 20a) are two additional (lengthy) glosses handwritten by R. Refael, also signed with his initials. We were unable to identify the other scribes, but the manuscript was apparently wholly written in the circle of R. Yaakov Abensour. Several leaves contain short marginal annotations in thin letters, apparently also by R. Yaakov Abensour. The first leaf bears a stamp of R. Refael Abensour (the youngest), Rabbi of Fez, who inherited the writings of his illustrious forebears and was famous for his rich library (for more about him, see introduction to the present chapter). The present manuscript is Sefer HaLikutim, arranged by R. Binyamin HaLevi and R. Elisha Guastella, with further editing and glosses by a Torah scholar named ”Yosef Baruch”. The scribes incorporated his glosses into the text, in parentheses or ”windows”. The present manuscript contains dozens of his glosses (most signed with his name; for example, pp. 9b, 16a, 47a and more). We do not know the identity of this kabbalist Yosef Baruch. Only one other copy of this recension, also in Western script, is recorded by R. Avraham Hillel, Survey of Manuscript Works, Min HaGenazim, VIII, 2017, pp. 386 ff. (Hebrew), who writes of R. Yosef Baruch's glosses: ”His statements and novellae copied in the present manuscript attest to his greatness and wisdom, and particularly to his great mastery of the Arizal's writings… R. Yosef Baruch's glosses are not known from other copies of this book, and they are found exclusively here”. The present manuscript is at least one more copy of these glosses, possibly the earlier. On p. 51a: ”Answer to a question R. Shmuel Podela asked the Arizal…”. On p. 62b: ”Inquiry of Atbach”. At the end of the volume appear several index leaves (with the title: ”Index of this book for the reader to easily find what he is looking for”). 1-260, [12] leaves (several blank leaves at end). 25.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains (dampstains and dark stains to several leaves). Wear and tears to margins. Worming, mainly to inner margins, mostly not affecting text. Detached gatherings. Placed in a new case. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco 20. Literature: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 47-48. Manuscript Collection of Moroccan Rabbis – The Abensour Family In the 1960s, the Klagsbald collection was supplemented by a particularly important collection – the manuscripts of the Abensour (Ibn Tzur) family of Fez. The collection contains many volumes comprising halachic rulings and correspondence of leading Moroccan rabbis, centering around the figure of R. Yaakov Abensour, the Yaavetz, a leading Moroccan Torah scholar and Rabbi of Fez, and an ancestor of the family. The collection was painstakingly assembled by R. Refael Abensour the youngest (see below) and was held in its entirety by the Abensour family in Fez until its purchase by Victor Klagsbald. This collection is of inestimable importance as an immense and rare compilation of the Torah teachings and halachic rulings of generations of Moroccan rabbis, kept in its entirety over many generations. Many parts of this collection have yet to be studied and published. Furthermore, the present collection preserves an unparalleled, comprehensive assemblage of autograph manuscripts – handwritten by the leading rabbis of Morocco, with their unique, calligraphic signatures, first and foremost by the Or HaChaim and his peers. R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz The centerpiece of the collection is comprised of numerous halachic rulings and autographs by R. Yaakov Abensour, the Yaavetz (1673-1752; Malchei Rabanan, pp. 64-65), a most prominent and illustrious figure of Moroccan Jewry. A leading halachic authority of his generation (the generation of the holy Or HaChaim and his teachers), a poet and a kabbalist, also well versed in practical kabbalah. At the age of twenty, he was appointed scribe of the Beit Din of R. Vidal HaTzarfati, R. Menachem Serero and R. Yehudah ibn Attar in Fez.