Bidspirit auction | Sefer HaKavanos of the Arizal

Sefer HaKavanos of the Arizal — Venice 1620 – First Edition — Printed in the Year of the Petirah of Rabbeinu the Maharchu ZY”A Sefer HaKavanos — sodas ha’tefillah and kavanos al pi kabbalah and the minhagim of Rabbeinu Yitzchak Luria, the Arizal — arranged and prepared for print by the mekubal Eloki R’ Moshe Trinki. Printed in Venice, 1620 — first edition. This sefer is distinct from the well-known Shaar HaKavanos. It was gathered and arranged by R’ Moshe Trinki from the ksavim of the Maharchu — “tav reish n’yarim” — together with writings of other talmidim from the circle of the Arizal, among them R’ Ephraim Panzieri from his work Gila Amikta. In his hakdamah, the mechaber writes that he “drank from the waters of the chachmei haTorah in Tzfas and in Damascus, ” where the Maharchu resided following the petirah of the Arizal. The Journey to Print the Toras Ha’Arizal — During the Lifetime of the Maharchu R’ Moshe Trinki set out on his journey to bring the ksavim of the Arizal to print while the Maharchu was still b’chayim. On his long route he traveled from Damascus to Kushta, and from there sailed to Venice, where he began arranging the writings for hadpasah. The Petirah Reaches Venice — Recorded at the End of the Hakdamah And then — at the close of his hakdamah — he records the moment the shmuah reached him of the petirah of Rabbeinu the Maharchu: “…V’tishlam ha’melachah Yom Gimmel, Hei l’Chodesh Av, shnas b’oso ha’perak (1620), shenisbakesh b’yeshivah shel maalah harav ha’kolel ha’mekubal ha’Eloki k’maharar Chaim Vital zatzok”l…” The Maharchu was niftar earlier that same year, on Gimmel Nissan — and it would appear that the shmuah reached far-off Venice only some five months later. Among the Earliest Printed Sources of Minhagei Ha’Arizal This sefer stands as one of the foundational early printed sources for the minhagim and kavanos of the Arizal, and among the earliest seforim ever printed from Toras Ha’Arizal.