Heichal Hakodesh by the Rambam Albas - Moroccan Kabbalah. Amsterdam, [1653]. First Edition. Rare.

Heichal Hakodesh by the Rambam Albas - Moroccan Kabbalah. Amsterdam, [1653]. First Edition. Rare.

Sefer Heichal Hakodesh, Kabbalistic elucidation on Seder Tefillot for all year round, based on the Zohar and Recanati's commentaries, by Rabbi Moshe Bar Maimon known as Albas.

The book was edited by Rabbi Yaakov Sasportas, Rosh Av Beit Din of Amsterdam and one of the first to fight the Sabbatean Movement, who added to the book glosses by Rabbi Aharon Sabaoni of Salé which among others, introduced elucidations from the Ari's Torah. These glosses were added because at the time, the Ari's Torah, which was unknown to the author of Heichal Hakodesh, began to spread and Rabbi Yaakov Sasportas used the glosses to introduce it.

The Kabbalistic doctrine of the Rambam Albas in his book Heichal Hakodesh: 

His Kabbalistic doctrine is unique, reflecting ancient Moroccan Kabbalistic traditions, which differed from the Ari's Kabbalah. This was indicated by the first publisher, Rabbi Yaakov Sasportas, who wrote the following in a lengthy foreword which he titled Pnei Haheichal and which dealt with Kabbalistic philosophy and the concept of the Sefirot: "Therefore when I saw the glory of this book by the author whose entire purpose is to instruct how a man should behave during his prayers of all year round and are all based on the sacred book by the Rashbi, although he did not write new things but rather compiled from the words of the Mekubalim before the Ramak's books and the Ari's books had spread..."

This different Kabbalistic doctrine is addressed also in a tale introduced by the Chida in his book Shem Hagedolim (Sefarim section, Ma'arechet V, letter 55) about Tamidei Chachamim who were studying Torah and one of them spoke ill of the book Heichal Hakodesh. He suddenly fell asleep and was punished in his dream. When he woke up, he told his friends what had happened and asked them to honor the Rav and his work. 

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon Albas (also known as the Rambam Albas; 16th century): a Mekubal who lived in Taroudant, Morocco. In [1575], during the same period as the Ari and the Mekubalim of Safed, he started writing his famed work, the Heichal Hakodesh. The book was published in 1653, approx. two generations after his passing and it is the only book that was published about the Torah of the Moroccan Mekubalim of the 16th-17th centuries. Rabbi Moshe Albas was the Rav of a group of Mekubalim that included Rabbi Yaakov Ifergan, the author of Mincha Chadasha and Parach Shoshan, Rabbi Yitzchak Hacohen, the author of Sefer Ginat Bitan, and Rabbi Yaakov Chanin. 

Amsterdam, [1653]. Emanuel Benvenisti Press. First edition. 

7, 76 leaves. 18 cm. Very good condition. New leather binding. Fine complete copy. 

The only book that was published about the Torah of the Moroccan Mekubalim of the 16th-17th centuries.