Bidspirit auction | Three Pages Handwritten by the

Three Pages Handwritten by the Kabbalist Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach, With His Signatures, from His Unpublished Composition on the Zohar – With Unpublished Novellae by the Arizal – Jerusalem, 1640s - Two leaves (three written pages, 76 lines) handwritten and signed by the kabbalist R. Yaakov Tzemach – commentary on the Zohar, Parashat Pinchas, based on the kabbalah of the Arizal. [Jerusalem, 1641-1643]. Three pages handwritten by the kabbalist R. Yaakov Tzemach (Sephardic semi-cursive script, handwritten by the author, with deletions and emendations). These pages comprise a commentary to the words of the Zohar on Parashat Pinchas (p. 214a). The heading at the top of the first page: ”Relating to Parashat Pinchas, Zohar leaves 214 and 217”. At the top of the third page: ”Pinchas, leaves 214, 217”. These leaves are part of the composition of R. Yaakov Tzemach on the Zohar which was never published. At the top of the first page, R. Yaakov Tzemach transcribed a passage from the Zohar in a ”window” (in larger characters), and wrote his commentary around it. His signature ”Tzemach” appears in the left margin. Further on the page, on the left, there is a brief gloss, signed at the beginning: ”Tzemach”. On the third page, there is another short, signed gloss. In three places in the margins, R. Yaakov Tzemach notes the source of several of the novellae as being the writings of the Arizal (at that time still in manuscript), referring to them as Derushim or Likutim. This manuscript quotes teachings in the name of the Arizal (mentioned several times on these pages as ”HaRav, of blessed memory”), including an unknown version of an account of the birth of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (see below). R. Yaakov Tzemach (1584?-1667), a G-dly kabbalist, leading transmitter of the teachings of the Arizal as explained in the writings of R. Chaim Vital, and foremost compiler and editor of the writings of the Arizal. He was the disciple of R. Shmuel Vital. Born to a family of Marranos in Lisbon, Portugal, he studied medicine there and became an expert physician (as the Chida describes him in his entry in Shem HaGedolim). In Portugal, he lived as a Marrano. At the age of 30, he moved to Salonika, where he started observing Judaism openly and studying Torah. In ca. 1619, he immigrated to Safed, where he began applying himself to Torah study with extraordinary diligence, living a life of deprivation with scant sleep. He spent six years studying the entire Talmud, Rambam, Tur with Beit Yosef, and all the books of the Levush. At the end of this period, he began dedicating his nights and Fridays to the study of Kabbalah. He later devoted all his energy and time to acquiring manuscripts of the writings of the Arizal, editing them, compiling them in various formats and correcting them. He is renowned for his books Kol BeRama – commentary on the Idra, and Nagid UMetzaveh – compilation of the Arizal's practices in Mitzvah observance. He relocated to Damascus in ca. 1625-1630, where he studied Kabbalah under R. Shmuel Vital. Every Shabbat, he would sit in his teacher's home studying the original manuscript of Etz HaChaim, handwritten by R. Chaim Vital. In 1640, he returned to Eretz Israel, and lived in Jerusalem until his passing. While in Jerusalem, he obtained the buried manuscripts of R. Chaim Vital – the Mahadura Batra writings, which even his son R. Shmuel Vital did not have access to (these writings were buried upon the instructions of R. Chaim Vital in the Safed cemetery, and were exhumed decades later by ”holy rabbis of the generation, through yichudim… with his consent in a dream question” – Shem HaGedolim by the Chida, Chet, 21). In light of these discoveries, R. Yaakov Tzemach began rearranging all the writings of the Arizal. He composed over twenty works, mostly on kabbalah, but also on revealed parts of the Torah. Approximately half of them have as yet not been published. The most renowned books of the teachings of the Arizal, such as Otzrot Chaim, Kehillat Yaakov, Adam Yashar and others, were published based on the redactions by R. Yaakov Tzemach and his disciple R. Meir Poppers. These works were widely distributed and the leading kabbalists of subsequent generations studied the Arizal's kabbalah through them. The present manuscript is a fragment of an unpublished composition on the Zohar by R. Yaakov Tzemach. [2] leaves (three written pages). 15 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Minor tears to inner margins. Discovery: Unknown Account of the Birth of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi On the third page of the present manuscript, an unknown account is quoted in the name of the Arizal, highlighting the self-sacrifice of the father and mother of R. Yehuda HaNasi to beget him and circumcise him: ”As occurred with Rabban Gamliel [i.e. Rabban Shimon son of Gamliel], who was arrested with his wife for circumcising their son; they executed the son and imprisoned them. In the prison itself, they dug a hole in the wall separating their cells,