Bidspirit auction | Kavanat ha-Aggadot – “Kafṭor va-Feraḥ”.

Kavanat ha-Aggadot – “Kafṭor va-Feraḥ”. Amsterdam [1709] - Kavanat ha-Aggadot – “Kafṭor va-Feraḥ” A commentary on the Aggadot of the Talmud, with novellae from the Zohar and wondrous tales. Amsterdam, 5469 [1709]. An important homiletical–kabbalistic work by Rabbi Ya‘akov Luzzatto, among the leading Italian sages of the early 18th century, offering a comprehensive interpretation of the Aggadic passages of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, together with insights from the Zohar, Midrashic material, and accounts of wondrous deeds. On the title page appears an elaborate, poetic description expressing the purpose of the work—to illuminate the difficult and obscure Aggadot of the Sages: “Called Kafṭor va-Feraḥ: ‘Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and flower, ’ to give Israel light, so that all the difficult and dark Aggadot may shine with their radiance— in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and other Midrashim… together with novellae from the Book of the Zohar and with wondrous and awe-inspiring tales.” The author, Rabbi Ya‘akov Luzzatto, served among the rabbis of Venice and as a dayan on the Venetian rabbinical court. He later immigrated to the Land of Israel and settled in Safed, a major center of Kabbalah. Among his other works is Kohelet Ya‘akov (Salonika, 5364 [1604]). He passed away in Safed and was buried there (see Encyclopedia of the Sages of Italy..). 131 leaves. Height: 185 cm. Condition: very good. Light age staining. Binding: wooden boards covered with leather, with a damaged spine. A rich and distinctive work combining Aggadah, homiletics, and Kabbalah, illuminating rabbinic Aggadic literature through a mystical and conceptual lens characteristic of Italian Jewish scholarship in the early modern period.