Chemdat Yamim. Large work regarding kabbalistic behaviors for Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and holidays. Complete, three-volume set. Especially rare.
Specifications: [2] 154 [4]: [2] 130: [2] 282 leaves. About 21 cm. First edition.
Unique features: Work of historic importance, whose author has still not been definitively identified to this day. The title page notes that the manuscript came from Safed, but does not delineate the name of the author.The second section was printed before the first. In most copies, the first section includes two sets of pagination, but is printed as one section with one title page. This copy was divided into three volumes. The second volume features behaviors for Rosh Chodesh, essentially a continuation of the first section, with its own title page and preface.
Bears stamps of Shlomo ben Yisrael Kohen Tzedek – Katz, of the Tehran beit din, Chief Rabbi of Iranian Jewry. Owner signature at the end of the third volume.
Background: For a short while after the printing of the work, there were rumors that its author was an adherent of Shabtai Zvi, and some even attributed the work to Nathan of Gaza.The Yaavetz was the chief challenger of the work, and many Torah leaders distanced themselves from it. A. Yaari wrote a complete book about the mystery of this work’s authorship titled Ta’alumat Sefer (Jerusalem, 1954). He theorizes that it was written by Rabbi Binyamin HaLevi (who preceded Shabtai Zvi). In recent years, this theory has become stronger, but has still not been definitively proven.
Condition: Fine. Aging stains. New, matching half-leather and marbleized paper bindings.