Five homiletics for Shabbatot, festivals, and various events, by Rabbi Menachem Raba of Padua. Venice, [1605].
[1], 2-231, [1] leaf. 20 cm. On the last leaf is a poem by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh of Modena and an approbation from the rabbis of Venice, including Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Fano, with whom the author commanded his son to confer before printing. (For more about this refer to the introduction of the author’s son.)
In the left corner of the title page is a cut-off Italian signature of the Kabbalist Rabbi Aharon Berachia of Modena, author of Ma’avar Yabok, in which he wrote: “I bought it…Berachia of [Modena] in Lug[o] for 13…with four others, may it be His will…me and my descendants and my descendants’ descendants.”
Rabbi Aharon Berachia of Modena (d.1639), known by the name of his book Ma’avar Yabok, was one of the greatest Italian Kabbalists and the primary disciple of Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Fano. The Chida relates that he had an angel who would reveal Torah secrets to him from Heaven, and that he heard “many matters of his greatness and wonders.” Ma’avar Yabok is a foundational book on the topic of sickness, death, and burial customs, and was published dozens of times.
Old semi-leather binding. A few aging stains and worming holes. Yellow edges. Fine condition.