Kabbalistic work: elucidation on Rabbi Chiam Vital’s words by Rabbi Chaim della Roza. Salonika, 1848. First edition. Hundreds of handwritten glosses and corrections. The corrections and supplements were inserted into the new edition of the book.
Hundreds of handwritten glosses, corrections and supplements have been written throughout the book’s leaves. The book was brought to print by Rabbi David [Bechor] Seriro, who was a dayan in Salonika. It is possible that Rabbi David was the one who proofread and added the comments in the copy before us. Most of the corrections and glosses were printed in the new edition of the book, the corrected edition, which was published in Jerusalem in 2005.
Torat Chacham is one of the foundational books of the Rasha”sh’s kabbalah. There is a prayer on the last leaf to be recited before nightfall, written by the Rasha”sh. The author Rabbi Chaim della Roza was among Rabbi Shalom Sharabi – the Rasha”sh’s primary disciples. He was a Salonika sage, ascended to Jerusalem, and studied with his teacher, the Rasha”sh. Before he passed away, he requested that his disciples carry out the four executions of Beit Din on his body after his death, as is the custom of kabbalists. His disciples did not dare carry this out, due to their reverence for him, and performed the funeral without fulfilling this request. In the middle of the funeral, they were attacked by a group of Arabs who grabbed the body, cast it down in scorn, and threw stones on it. The disciples grieved the disgrace to their rabbi, until he appeared to one of them in a dream and said that he was happy that he will had been fulfilled. He was interred in the kabbalist section on the Mount of Olives.
[2] 172 leaves, lacking leaves 153-154, 21 cm.
Fine-very fine condition, aging stains. Worn binding.