Tikunei HaZohar, written by the Tana Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai.
Mantua, 1558. First edition and first printing of the Zohar after rabbis removed the ban on its printing, which lasted for the first 90 years of Hebrew printing.
Page margins throughout the volume are filled with important antique marginalia by the Holy hand of the Kabbalist Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano.
The copy in the Gershom Scholem collection in the Israel National Library (No. 2141) is also full and replete with glosses in his holy hand. In one of the reflections there, Rabbi Menachem writes, "Menachem said, at first I corrected all this according to Nusach 1 and now I went back to proofread it according to Nusach 2 and it dawned on me that they are transitory formulas and I didn’t have to erase everything I had erased."
On this Gershom Scholem remarks ”The copy with erasures was offered in 1976 by…”
The present copy is that copy full of the Holy Hagahot of the Mekubal Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano.
Both copies with a remarkable notation in his holy hand about the Arizal and the Messiah "And the secret that R. Yitzchak Zeleh, since his name is Yitzchak the Sod Hadin, the redemption will not be by him but he will return to sleep until Messiah Ben David comes, whose name is Menachem… and then redemption will come through him.’
Furthermore, know that above mentioned Rabbi Yitzchak, may his memory be blessed, was named Yitzchak Luria… the secret of judgments… as it is written by me about Potiphar… but Menachem ben Amiel…"
Extremely rare! Very few known copies of the "Tikkun Zohar" from Mantua exist with notes and corrections from such an early period.
The earliest source for corrections and arrangements in the "Tikkunei Zohar" since its first printing underwent many changes in its texts and arrangements, mainly according to the notes of "Derech Emeth" attributed to Rabbi Chaim Vital printed by the Ramaz in Venice in 1718. Also ss the printer in Kushta writes , there were corrections from the Ari z"l before his eyes. However, in the present copy, there are also additional explanations and notes much more than what has been printed in all editions to this day; some of them do not even appear in the copy in the National Library, from which the writer first copied.
The content of the notes is identified as coming from Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano z"l, some of them probably from his Beit Midrash. Thus, before us is one of the oldest sources, if not the earliest among all that is known today, for important and necessary notes on the book
It should be noted that Meir Benayahu also identified these as being the Holy handwriting of Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano.
"Tikkunei Zohar."Encompasses the seventy ways ( shivin anpin), of explaining the first word in the Torah Breishis. With these seventy explanations Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealed the foundations of the Hidden Torah.
Tikkunei HaZohar is inseparable from the Sefer HaZohar, and it is mentioned in the latter in Parshas Ki Savo. (See the preface to Kisei Melech which explains why it was called Tikkunim.)
Kabbalistic sages expressed that learning the Tikkunei HaZohar is auspicious for purifying the soul and drawing the final redemption near.
First edition of Tikkunei HaZohar, printed in Mantua at the same time they printed the first edition of the Zohar in Mantua.
The first pages of the sefer contain four halachic rulings and declarations by famous Italian Rabbis permitting the printing of the Zohar and its Tikkunim as well as the general availing of kabbalistic teachings to the public. The present work was printed and edited by Rabbi Emanuel Benvenito, author of Levias Chen.
Flyleaf with signature: Mose Baruh 1729. Possibly a member of the Baruch family of Barbados.
Inscription ”Jewish book presented to me by Dr. F.R. Marks. Not for sale. J. Sassoon 6-18-26.”
Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod #329
[4], 146,[1] Leaves. Lacking last leaf. 19.5 Cm.
Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano (1550?-before 1626; known as Ramdal), foremost Torah scholar and kabbalist in the time of the Arizal. He was born in Italy and migrated extensively throughout his life. In 1575, he published his work Derech Chaim in Constantinople, and closeto that time immigrated to Eretz Israel, where he met and became close to the disciples of the Arizal.
He first settled in Jerusalem, and then moved to Safed. In 1587, he published there Midrash Agur (Midrash Shloshim UShtayim Midot) which he edited. He later settled in Egypt, and then returned to Jerusalem, from where he reached Damascus, and subsequently returned to Italy. At the end of his life, he returned to Jerusalem, and passed away there. In 1618, he published in Venice his book named Shtei Yadot, comprising ten of his compositions (corresponding with the fingers of both hands). These include: Or Torah, Maarich, Avodat HaMikdash, Derech Chaim, Tova Tochachat and others. For lack of funding, he did not complete the printing of all ten compositions at that time. Over the years, his many works were reprinted in new editions, yet some remained in manuscript form (see a detailed list of his compositions in the foreword to Derech Chaim, Ahavat Shalom, Jerusalem 2012).
Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano toiled extensively over establishing correct texts, whether in Written or Oral Torah, based on early manuscripts, and some of his compositions are built on this study. His book Or Torah, which establishes the text of the Masorah, has become a fundamental reference book for the accurate text when writing a Torah scroll. Likewise, he corrected and edited some of the Midrashim and the Zohar, and wrote glosses on other compositions.
Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano was a kabbalist, he authored several kabbalistic compositions. While in Eretz Israel, he met the disciples of the Arizal and studied from them, as he wrote in his glosses to the Levush (quoted in Matzat Shimurim by Rabbi Natan Shapiro), in relation to the structure of the Tefillin knot: "This knot was concealed from many, and in my youth I found it difficult… and I was not satisfied until I immigrated to Eretz Israel and the disciples of the Arizal fashioned for me a knot in the form of a double Dalet…He resided for a while in Egypt, presumably around 1610, and he then copied the homilies of the Arizal’s kabbalah.
Antique marginalia by other hands.
Overall Good- Fair condition, stains, marginal page restorations to first few and last few pages (seemingly from another copy that wasn\'t before R. Menachem), some marginal repairs throughout, some marginal worming, later new maroon leather binding.
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