Handwritten Kabbalistic Chiddushim by the Author of Shemen Sasson. Autographed
Jerusalem, Circa 1857
This manuscript is completely handwritten and features his autograph in several places (see leaves 32a; 37b; 42a), as well as other works in kabbalah written by the holy Mekubal author of Shemen Sasson.
The present manuscript includes. ( see detail of content below )
1) Drush Hamalbush by the Arizal’s disciple Rabbi Yisrael Sruk, a sefer fundamental to the study of kabbalah. The copy contains numerous glosses inscribed by Rabbi Sasson and several of his revered colleagues.
2) Rabbi Sasson pens responses to 48 out of 72 queries sent by the rabbis of the west to the Rashash. He further resolves questions regarding intentions in prayer that were posed in the kabbalistic beit medrash Beit-El; and other sacred kabbalistic teachings.
3) chapter of Shaarei Kedushah by Rabbi Chaim Vital which has not been printed until recently, and which encompasses the secret of the name of 72 letters.
77 Queries Sent to the Rashash by Tunisian Rabbis
It is known that the chachamim of the “West”—the scholars and kabbalists in Tunisia—forwarded 77 famous kabbalistic queries to the Rashash. The Rashash responded to these questions—some in a more general sense and others very specifically, as presented in his sefer Nahar Shalom.
Kabbalists who followed the Rashash devoted great efforts to respond specifically, and in a very detailed fashion, to each of these queries. Their collective responses, and the future responses of their own disciples, are regarded as fundamental to the study of the Rashash’s kabbalah. One of the most famous of these responders was the Shemen Sasson.
The pious kabbalist Rabbi Sasson ben Rabbi Moshe (1825-1903) was among the last of the kabbalist Achronim. Rabbi Sasson served as a shaliach tzibbur and director of Yeshivat Beit-El for over two decades. His extensive writings on the sacred teachings of Rabbi Chaim Vital are unparalleled in quantity and quality, and his sefarim are elemental to understanding the kabbalistic wisdom of Rabbi Chaim Vital and the Rashash.
Manuscript contents:
1. Drush Hamalbush by Rabbi Yisrael Sruk, a disciple of the Arizal with handwritten glosses [leaves: 1-20). The Drush Hamalbush is a profound work and fundamental to the study and mastery of the wisdom of kabbalah.
2. Responses by the Shemen Sasson to 48 (of 77) halachic queries sent by the great western Rabbis and Chachamim to the Rashash (leaves 21-32). The above was printed in Shemen Sasson Vol. Shu”t (Jerusalem, 5775) and in part in the anthology Mekabtziel.
3. Teshuvos of the Shemen Sasson to the questions posed in the Beit Medrash Beit-El Beis regarding intentions in prayers (leaves 33-38).
4. Commentary on Shaar Hamelachim in Eitz Chaim (leaves 40-41).
5. Commentary on the verse “Ki yihiyeh becha evyon, If you shall have among you a pauper” (leaf 42).
6. The fourth section of Shaarei Kedushah by Rabbi Chaim Vital (leaves 43-50). This section, which was omitted from the printing of Shaarei Kedushah and was extant only in handwritten manuscripts, discusses the combinations of Holy Names and specifically the Name Ayin-Beis (see printer’s comment in the Constantinople Edition, 1734 p. 35b). This section was only recently printed in Kesavim Chadashim L’Moreinu Harav Chaim Vital by Ahavat Shalom (Jerusalem, 1988).
Jerusalem, Circa 1857. [49] Leaves; 83 handwritten sides. Page size: 20×15. Several kabbalistic diagrams. Year 1857 is mentioned on leaf 34b, along with the inscription: “And so we took action on this year, Year 1857.” First 8 leaves are torn at margins; with text missing at the bottom. Antique half-leather binding.
