Bidspirit auction | Torah Ohr First Edition Bologna,

Torah Ohr First Edition Bologna, 1538 * Sefer Torah Ohr by the sage Don Yosef ibn Yichya, one of the great sages of Italy and father of the author of Shalsheles HaKabbalah. The sefer contains philosophical investigations into the fundamentals of faith: on the topics of Gan Eden and Gehinnom, the World to Come and the immortality of the soul, comprising altogether 78 chapters. The author quotes extensively from the Talmud on these topics and elaborates at length on the wondrous tale of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who entered Gan Eden while still alive. On the verso of the title page there is a unique illustration of the form of the Menorah, composed of poetic stanzas in praise of the sefer (slightly cropped). Rabbi Don Yosef Ibn Yichya (1496-1539) recounts his life story in the preface to his sefer Torah Ohr, one of the many heartrending stories of Spanish Jewry of that era. During her first month of pregnancy, his mother fled Portugal to Italy to flee the Inquisition. Upon her arrival in Pisa, Italy, she once again faced another spiritual trial and she chose to jump off a roof in order to preserve her modesty. Miraculously, both she and the child she carried survived. She then continued to Florence where she gave birth to Rabbi Don Yosef in 1496. The family subsequently moved, settling near Bologna. The author completed writing this sefer in the year 1538 and succeeded in printing it that very same year. Rabbi Don Yosef passed away a year after its publication and roughly a decade later, his remains were sent for burial in Tzfas. Rabbi Don Yosef’s son Rabbi Gedalya Ibn Yicha relates in his famous work Shalsheles HaKabbalah that Rabbi Yosef Karo personally arranged his father's burial. Bologna, 1538. First edition. Printed by ”the esteemed partners engaged in the silk trade.” Page Count: 36 leaves. Size: 19.2 cm. Condition: Good; professionally reinforced at the inner margins, almost unnoticeable. Few stains. Fine leather binding.