Manuscript by the Rasha"sh. Kabbalistic Names and Blessings. With Differences from the Printed Version

Manuscript by the Rasha"sh. Kabbalistic Names and Blessings. With Differences from the Printed Version

"To enact supernatural miracles for them" (one of the many blessings)

Two pages on deep Kabbalistic topics - some of which have never been printed - entirely handwritten by the G-dly Kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Shabzi, leading Yemenite poet. According to the famous Yemenite tradition, he would merit journeying by kefitzat haderech from Yemen to the Land of Israel every Shabbat eve. This manuscript is from the never-printed first edition of his book Chemdat Yamim. Yemen, c. 1640.

This manuscript is from the Rasha”sh’s renowned commentary on the Torah, Chemdat Yamim – parashiyot Shemot and Va'era. Although the manuscript was typographically set and completely ready for print, including the Tosefet Ta’am elucidation on the sides of the pages, there are many differences from the printed version. It appears that this is a rare leaf from the mahadura kamma of his book Chemdat Yamim, which the Rasha”sh completed in 1646; it was never printed and was known of only by tradition! (The text that was eventually printed is from the mahadura batra of the manuscript written by the Rasha”sh in later years; refer to Kovetz Ma’amarim from the 350th anniversary of his birth, published by Va’ad HaKlali L’Kehillat HaTeimanim, Jerusalem, 1972 page 10.)

Manuscripts by rabbinic leaders of all communities and circles were used - and are still used - among the entire Jewish people as tried-and-true amulets for protection and success, even when the manuscript's content does not explicitly deal with blessings or Kabbalistic topics.

How much more so this Kabbalistic manuscript full of words and verses of blessing and abundance, such as the verse "There is reward for your action" ["יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ" (which is even vowelized by the Rasha"sh)] or the terms "redoubled" ["כפול ומכופל"], "miracles as famous as the splitting of the Red Sea, " "descent of the mann, " "to recreate them, " "to enact supernatural miracles for them." There are also many verses of prophecy and Divine inspiration as well as the most powerful Kabbalistic Names, such as  "ש-ד-י", "ה-ו-י-ה", "א-ד-נ-י", and Name combinations: "ו-ד-א-י-א-ו", "י-ן-ל-ת-ו-ד" and more - that are known to be the spiritual force that empowers amulets. As such, aside from the historic value of this manuscript and the important revelations in it, it is a powerful amulet for wealth, Divine inspiration and defense, by force of the blessings and by power of the Names written in it by one of the two giants grown in the Yemenite diaspora from the day of their exile from the Holy Land (both of whom, incidentally, were known by the same abbreviation: 'Rasha"sh').

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Shalom Shabazi.

[2] pp, approximately 15x21 cm. Thick, high-quality paper.

Fine condition. Professional restoration to the manuscript's margins. Minimal worming perforations and aging stains.