Bidspirit auction | Hon Ashir. Amsterdam, 1731. First

Hon Ashir. Amsterdam, 1731. First edition. Among the first Hebrew books to include musical notation - Hon Ashir. Commentaries and novellae on the Six Orders of the Mishnah, by the kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi. Amsterdam, 1731. First edition. With numerous illustrations and poems. Commentaries also in the kabbalistic style. Includes poems between tractates and between orders, as well as on the final two leaves. One of the poems, on “Shabbat, Milah, and Tefillin with Kavanah, ” includes musical notation. Many diagrams appear throughout the commentary. The author is the renowned kabbalist Rabbi Raphael Immanuel Hai Ricchi (1648–1743), author of Mishnat Chassidim, Adderet Eliyahu, Chazeh Tzion, and more—among the greatest rabbis of Italy. At age 30, he immigrated to the Land of Israel and settled in Safed, where he studied Kabbalah and the writings of the Ari. He served as a rabbi in several communities, traveled as a shadar (rabbinic emissary), and wandered the world printing and selling his books. In his final years he settled in Jerusalem, where the home he built later served as the yeshiva ”Knesset Yisrael” of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar. In the first introduction, the author relates that he wrote the book over two years in Safed: “And it came to pass after these things, I went down on a ship to the sea... and I passed through great trouble upon the waters, for the Lord stirred a stormy wind, and brought me on an unpaved road… and into the hands of cruel masters was I delivered, behold, it was the ignoble people of Barbaria, and they plundered all that I had… and this is my portion from all my toil: this book that I saved from the mouth of the lion, from among the other books they stole and took from me—nearly a miracle...” At the conclusion of the book, he writes: “I give much thanks to God… who gave us life and sustained us and enabled us to arrive at this place… Safed, may it be rebuilt and reestablished, with my wife and children, to stand here for Torah and service in this holy land, which enlightens the simple by its pure and clean air…” About 15 years before this edition, the author attempted to print the book in Venice under a completely different title—Dikdukei Aniut (“The Subtleties of Poverty”)—but was unsuccessful. In the introduction, he explains the interesting reason for this. The book before us includes two leaves containing two piyyutim composed by the kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi: “Mah Tovu Uma Na’im Ki Yeshvu Achim Gam Yachad” and “Ad Yom Cholin Me’id Banu, ” accompanied by the original musical notations. According to Chabad tradition, the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch composed the famous Chabad niggun “L’chatchilah Ariber” through contemplation of these very notes, with the niggun directly corresponding to the melody of Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi’s piyyut. The Chabad tradition further states that this niggun is part of a kabbalistic chain of transmission originating from the holy Ari, as Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi was one of the central transmitters of his teachings. For an in-depth analysis of the evolution of this melody, see Prof. Edwin Seroussi’s article: “L’chatchilah Ariber: The Journey of an Italian Melody into Chabad Tradition and Eastern Piyyut, ” published on Prof. David Assaf’s Oneg Shabbat blog (September 14, 2018). [4], 168 leaves, with musical notation. 21 cm. Good condition. Some worming and stains. Unbound.