Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
ORHOT HAYYIM (PENTATEUCH WITH THE OR HA-HAYYIM COMMENTARY OF RABBI HAYYIM IBN ATTAR), VENICE: MEIR BEN MOSES HAYYIM DE ZARA AT STAMPARIA VENDRAMIN, 1742
Auction Closed
November 20, 08:47 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
ORHOT HAYYIM (PENTATEUCH WITH THE OR HA-HAYYIM COMMENTARY OF RABBI HAYYIM IBN ATTAR), VENICE: MEIR BEN MOSES HAYYIM DE ZARA AT STAMPARIA VENDRAMIN, 1742
2 volumes (12 1/2 x 8 1/8 in.; 319 x 208 mm): Vol. 1 (Genesis, Exodus, and Haftarot): 176 folios (foliation: [1-4], 1-86, 1-78, 1-8); Vol. 2 (Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Haftarot): 204 folios (foliation: [1-2], 1-60, 1-72, 1-58, 1-12) on paper. Two elaborate title pages featuring Moses and Aaron above a cartouche depicting David decapitating Goliath; enlarged decorative letters forming initial words at the start of each of the Five Books of Moses; ornaments distributed throughout; scattered marginalia in pen and pencil. Slight scattered staining, thumbing, and dogearing; light browning; pages closely cropped; outer edges somewhat worn; corners rounded; minor repairs in outer edges of 1:[1-4] and of 2:47 (Deuteronomy), 49-end of volume, slightly affecting text; small wormhole in lower-outer corners of 1:[1]-86, mostly affecting only individual letters; 2:15-16 (Deuteronomy) bound out of order; minor repairs in upper edges of 2:10-12 (Haftarot), slightly affecting text. Modern half-leather over cloth, by Malchut, slightly scuffed; spine in five compartments with raised bands; title, volume number, and place lettered in gilt on spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
The first edition of a classic kabbalistic commentary, complete with the title page of the first volume, missing in many other copies.
Hayyim Ibn Attar (1696-1743) was a prominent Moroccan rabbi and kabbalist who left Meknes for the Holy Land due to deteriorating economic and political conditions at home, as well as his belief in the imminence of the final redemption. In the course of his journey eastward, he stopped in Livorno, where he gathered around him a group of students and urged the Jews of Italy to immigrate with him. Arriving first in Acre in 1741, he eventually moved to Jerusalem and there established a yeshiva with divisions for advanced and younger scholars. According to its introduction, the present work, his magnum opus, was completed in late summer of that year and takes its name from verses referring to the Torah as or (light) and to God, the Torah, and the righteous as hayyim (life/alive). Due to his saintly reputation and the esteem in which his book is held, Ibn Attar has come to be referred to as “The Holy Or ha-Hayyim.” The commentary has been reprinted in numerous editions since it first appeared and has become particularly popular among Hasidim.
Provenance
Abraham ben Simhah Goldziher [of Hamburg] (1:[1r, 2r], 1r)
Meir bar Isaac (1:[1r], 2: verso of final folio)
Israel Herling (?) (1:[1r, 2r], 1r, 86v, 1r, verso of final folio, 2:[1r, 2v], 1r, 60v, 1r, 72v, 1r, recto of final folio)
Literature
Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, Sifrei yesod: sifrei ha-yesod shel ha-sifriyyah ha-yehudit ha-toranit (n.p.: Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, 2019), 13 (no. 28).
Vinograd, Venice 1814
Isaac Yudlov and G.J. Ormann, Sefer ginzei yisra’el: sefarim, hoverot, va-alonim me-osef dr. yisra’el mehlman, asher be-beit ha-sefarim ha-le’ummi ve-ha-universita’i (Jerusalem: JNUL, 1984), 107 (no. 624).