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Commentary on Megillas Koheles by Rabbi Elisha Galiko of Tzfas. First Edition. Venice, 1577 * A long and comprehensive commentary on Megillas Koheles by the Rav Hamusmach Rabbi Elisha Galiko of Tzfas, one of the primary disciples of Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of Beis Yosef. Rabbi Elisha Galiko was one of the most distinguished darshanim in Tzfas, and this is the first sefer of his to be published. Rabbi Elisha Galiko (c. 1520-1580) was one of the great sages of Tzfas and a primary disciple of the Beis Yosef. He served as Rosh Yeshivah in Tzfas, and his signature appears alongside those of contemporary rabbanim on many teshuvos, halachic rulings, and various documents. Rabbi Elisha is best known for his commentaries on the Megillos, of which Koheles (the present sefer, 1577), Esther (1583), and Shir HaShirim (1587) were printed. His commentary on Koheles is the most extensive and comprehensive of them all. A rare sefer, even more so than the author’s other works. The Chida, in his Shem HaGedolim (entry for Rabbi Elisha Galiko), mentions only his commentary on Shir HaShirim. His primary disciple was the kabbalist Rabbi Shmuel di Uzida, one of the earliest disciples of the Arizal. Whenever Rabbi Shmuel refers in his sefarim to “my teacher, ” he is alluding to Rabbi Elisha. In his lengthy preface to the sefer, the author divides his drushim on the megillah into twenty-seven different ways of serving Hashem, corresponding to the twenty-seven letters. Some of the drushim in the sefer follow the path of Kabbalah. In Genazym (Auction 20, item 29), a copy of this sefer once appeared that had belonged to the kabbalist, the Rema of Fano, who recorded kabbalistic glosses in his own handwriting in the margins. Venice, 1577. First edition. Page Count : [12], 143, [1] leaves. Size : 18.6 cm. Condition : Good. Some stains; minor restoration to the first four leaves. New binding. On the author and his writings, see: M. Benayahu, Yosef Bechiri, Jerusalem, 1991, pp. 259-290. --------------- The Year of Printing The title page does not indicate the year of printing. On leaf 143b, there is a brief colophon: “The work was completed on Tuesday, the sixth of Tishrei, 1577/1574.” The final letter appears to be a ח, and thus most bibliographers record the year as של”ח - 1577. However, it is possible that the letter is actually a ה, similar in appearance to a ח, which would indicate the year as של”ה - 1574. The full date given in the colophon corresponds equally to both years. Ben Yaakov, in Otzar HaSefarim, explicitly records the year as של”ה - 1574, and subsequently cites another bibliographer who lists the year as של”ח - 1577 (letter פ, no. 543).