Bidspirit auction | Manuscript, Otzrot Chaim – Morocco,

Manuscript, Otzrot Chaim – Morocco, 18th Century – Glosses of Rabbi Yaakov Abensour (Yaavetz) and Other Rabbis - Manuscript, Otzrot Chaim, teachings of the Arizal heard from R. Chaim Vital, in a Maghrebi recension. [Morocco, ca. 1700s-1720s]. Western script, handwritten by R. Yosef Gabizon of Tétouan (see previous lot). Marginal glosses by copyist (most with notations and titles, but some original); additional short glosses (mostly notations, corrections and references) by various writers. Some glosses are handwritten by R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz (for example, pp. 14b, 21a, 23, 24). On p. 3a, gloss signed by R. Refael Abensour with his initials – R. Refael son of R. Shlomo Shmuel Abensour, great-grandson of the Yaavetz. On p. 106a: ”Up to this point is what I, Elisha, found, from… Otzrot Chaim, and this is what I found from the same investigation in another place…”. Otzrot Chaim, edited by R. Yaakov Tzemach, contains a description of the order of emanation as heard from R. Chaim Vital, deriving from his teacher the Arizal. Since the book does not contain the complete order of emanation, Moroccan kabbalists edited it in a new recension with several sections of Mevo Shearim integrated into it. The present manuscript is a ”Maghrebi” recension – containing Otzrot Chaim integrated with parts of Mevo Shearim. This recension appears only in manuscripts copied in North Africa, and it was first published in Livorno, 1849 (see: R. Yosef Avivi, Binyan Ariel, Jerusalem 1987, p. 59, note 31). As opposed to other manuscripts of this type, this manuscript does not contain glosses by Moroccan kabbalists, and the margins only contain the glosses of R. Yaakov Tzemach. 2-240 leaves. Lacking at the end. 22 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Tears and wear. Open tears to some leaves, as a result of ink erosion, affecting text. Worming, affecting text. Detached leaves and gatherings. New binding, not attached, with matching slipcase. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco 2. Reference: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 21-22. 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. He then authored Et Sofer – laws and customs of halachic documents. With the passing of R. Vidal HaTzarfati, R. Yehudah ibn Attar was appointed head of the Beit Din and the Yaavetz became his fellow dayan. The Yaavetz (along with R. Yehudah ibn Attar and other leading Torah scholars of the generation) authored the approbation to Chefetz Hashem by R. Chaim ibn Attar, the Or HaChaim (printed in Amsterdam, 1732). Following R. Yehudah ibn Attar's passing, the Yaavetz succeeded him as head of the Fez Beit Din, and became the supreme authority in Morocco, responding to halachic queries from throughout the Maghreb. The Yaavetz was compelled to leave Fez several times. Between 1719-1728 he resided in Meknes, and during the famine of 1738, he wandered to Tétouan. In these places he was also received with great honor and joined the local rabbis in the Beit Din, even heading the list of signatories on Beit Din rulings. In his later years, he appointed five of his disciples to assist him in leading the community,