Bidspirit auction | Kabbalah: Sefer HaMefoar, by Rabbi

Kabbalah: Sefer HaMefoar, by Rabbi Shlomo Molcho Amsterdam, 1669. - Sefer HaMefoar, a work of profound and esoteric Kabbalah by Rabbi Shlomo Molcho. Amsterdam, 1669. On the final page appear ethical teachings drawn from the words of the Sages and their riddles, including thirty-nine aphorisms beginning with the letter Aleph. This unique kabbalistic sefer contains homilies and mystical intentions according to the path of Kabbalah, wondrous secrets, and themes of redemption and the Messiah. Rabbi Chaim Vital, the foremost disciple of the holy Ari, testified regarding the author that he was versed in practical Kabbalah, writing: “Take proof from Rabbi Yosef della Reina and Rabbi Shlomo Molkho, who made use of practical Kabbalah and were lost from the world.” (Sha‘arei Kedushah, Part III, Gate 6). The opening word of the sefer is set within a wreath of flowers, above which two cherubs hold a crown. Antique signatures appear on the title page. The holy author Rabbi Shlomo Molcho (1500–1532) was an extraordinary, unique, and even messianic figure in Jewish history. Not only after his martyrdom—being burned at the stake al kiddush Hashem—but already during his lifetime, as a penitent youth of only about twenty years of age, he astonished the greatest scholars and kabbalists of his generation. One contemporary kabbalist described him as follows: “For we have found it recorded in a true document, and no one denies this, how the pious Molkho, of blessed memory, suddenly—out of nowhere—had this spirit of wisdom, namely Kabbalah, rest upon him; it was not known whence it came to him, except that from Heaven they opened his heart like the opening of a great hall.” (R. Jacob ben Kalonymus Segal, cited in Sefunot 18). The kabbalist Rabbi Abraham ben Hananiah Yagel wrote of Rabbi Shlomo Molkho: “He did not know [formal] seforim, yet he expounded in public ancient matters, secrets of Kabbalah… and he wrote in a book some of his words as a testimony to the wisdom he acquired in the blink of an eye—what no eye had seen.” Even the author of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yosef Karo, relates that the famed heavenly Maggid who would reveal himself to him referred to Rabbi Shlomo Molcho as “Shlomo, My chosen one.” 26 Leaves. 19 cm.