Sefer Ta’am Leshad, refutation of Samuel David Luzzatto’s (Shada”l) dialogue on the Kaballah.
…."Discusses Sefer Havikuach ( Gorizia, 1852) about the Kaballah wisdom by the esteemed …Samuel David Luzzatto of Padua
Shadal in his Sefer disputes that the holy Zohar was written by the Divine Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai , as well as other things in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and in this Sefer Rabbi Eliyahu ben Amozeg criticizes & refutes him sharply.
Only Edition, Livorno 1863.
A Rare Sefer!
Excellent condition, crisp white paper, original binding partly detached.
VIII, 223 Sides .20 Cm.
Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh, sometimes Elia or Eliyahu, was born in 1823. He was an Italian Sephardic Orthodox rabbi and renowned Kabbalist, highly respected in his day as one of Italy’s most eminent Jewish scholars. He served for half a century as rabbi of the important Jewish community of Livorno, where the "Piazza Benamozegh" now commemorates his name and distinction.
He was born in Livorno. The name Benamozegh means "son of Amazigh". His father (Abraham) and mother (Clara), Maghrebi Jewish natives of Fez, Morocco, died when Elijah was only four years old.
At the age of twenty-five he entered a commercial career, spending all his leisure time in study; but his natural tendency toward science and an active religious life soon caused him to abandon the pursuit of wealth. He then began to publish scientific and apologetic works, in which he revealed a great attachment to the Jewish religion, exhibiting at the same time a broad and liberal mind. His solicitude for Jewish traditions caused him to support Kabbalah.
Later, Benamozegh was appointed rabbi and professor of theology at the rabbinical school of his native town; and, his other occupations notwithstanding, he continued to write and defend Jewish traditions until his death, in Livorno.
Benamozegh’s works are noted for his free and uninhibited use of various non-Jewish religious sources, especially the New Testament and ancient Pagan mythology. Benamozegh even considered the Gospels to be a highly valuable Jewish Midrash, comparable to the Talmudic Aggadah. He respected Jesus as a wise rabbi and righteous Jew, but criticized the religious innovations of Paul and the invention of Christianity as a separate religion, which provoked the split of early Christianity from Judaism.
In his theological works, Benamozegh suggested to explain the Christian dogmas of the Trinity and Incarnation as an oversimplified and corrupt version of the Kabbalistic-panentheistic doctrine of Divine Emanations. While he disagreed with the Trinitarian Christian theology, he considered it, unlike most other Orthodox rabbis, an erroneous misunderstanding of subtle Kabbalistic doctrines rather than a major deviation from monotheism. Moreover, he claimed that Christianity is too monotheistic in comparison with the Kabbalah, which views all Pagan deities in their essence as partial manifestations or faces of the Absolute. Similarly, Benamozegh criticized the Christian view of Jesus as incarnated God on monistic or panentheistic grounds. According to Benamozegh’s Kabbalistic view, the entire world is an incarnation of the Shekhinah, the feminine aspect of Divinity. He believed that Hinduism is closer in this respect to mystical Judaism than Christianity.
Benamozegh was a staunch Italian patriot. He even wrote a daring formulation, based on the Jewish declaration of faith: O Israelites, that you will always love Italy, that you will love her with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Apparently, according to his panentheistic philosophy, Benamozegh viewed the Italian soil as a specially beloved expression of the Shekhinah. He died in 1900.
Share this lot:
Lot #75