Bidspirit auction | Shefa Tal! Hundreds of Glosses

Shefa Tal! Hundreds of Glosses Handwritten by the Great Author! Special Discovery! - Discovery! Hundreds of glosses handwritten by the author, the ”Shefa Tal”! Sefer “Shefa Tal”, a fundamental Kabbalistic Sefer, by the saintly Mekubal Rabbi Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz of Prague (a cousin of the Holy Shla”h) – Hanau, 1612 – first edition. The pages of the Sefer ”Shefa Tal” are chock full of comments and glosses, handwritten by the author. Some are very long and deep, while a large amount is proofreading and very light typo corrections, apparently in preparation for a corrected and updated edition. On page 58/a the author writes in his gloss, on the last line: “ as we said above in the chapter of the secret of two faces…”. On pg. 66/b he writes in the middle of the gloss: “ We have already said that the third mind, which is Da’as”. Both of these glosses refer to the content printed in the Sefer and not to a gloss. Rabbi Shabtai Sheftel ben Akiva Halevi Horowitz (1565-1619) was one of the leading sages and Mekubalim of Prague at the start of the 17th century. Author of “Shefa Tal” and “Nishmat Shabtai Halevi”, which are based on the teachings of the Rama”k and are among the fundamental prefaces to the teachings of Kabballah. The author’s father, Rabbi Akiva Segal Horowitz, was a brother of Rabbi Avraham Halevi Horowitz, the father of the Holy Shla”h. His cousin, the Shla”h, writes in his approbation printed at the beginning of the Sefer (missing in this exemplar) regarding the Sefer and its author: “One of the high, exalted ones, his Kabbalah is pure-sifted flour, he has toured the Ma’aseh Merkava… a wise one who understands on his own and Hashem is with him… reveals the hidden and lofty wisdoms… a spirit from above has appeared on him… my eyes have seen and my heart rejoiced when I went over this holy composition written by my relative, the complete sage, Rabbi Shabtai Sheftel son of the holy Rabbi Akiva Segal…” . Incomplete exemplar. 94 pp. Missing the first 5 pages. Some pages were bound out-of-order. 27cm. Moisture stains. The Sefer was professionally restored and rebound in new, gilt-decorated leather. Good condition.