Auction 70 - Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Manuscript, Polemic Booklet By a Yemenite Torah Scholar in Jerusalem, Against the Books of the Darda'im Movement - Jerusalem, 1926
Opening: $300
Sold for: $750
Including buyer's premium
Manuscript (8 written pages), essay arranged for publishing, authored by one of the rabbis of the Yemenite community. [Jerusalem, ca. 1926].
"I thought to add my touch, to compose a foreword for the book Yesod HaEmuna VeYesod HaAvoda authored by… R. Yaakov Shlomo Kassin…". Yesod HaEmuna was composed by R. Kassin in 1926, and it forms a complete composition responding to the polemic booklets which the Darda'im of Yemen wrote to undermine the authenticity of the Zohar and its authorship by R. Shimon bar Yochai (Yesod HaEmuna was ultimately only published in 1981, and again in 2011. This foreword was apparently not included).
In this manuscript, composed by a Yemenite Torah scholar (whom we were not able to identify), the author writes: "Since I saw an outrageous occurrence, of a scholar from a city in Yemen named Sanaa, who degrades the holy Zohar, stating that it is not a holy book neither was it written by R. Shimon bar Yochai… rather by a philosopher… and he wrote some booklets, matters of foolishness and emptiness, that even a young child would laugh at, unconceivable nonsense… When these booklets arrived and were viewed by the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities, as well as communities dwelling in Egypt and Jerusalem, they decried him as one who denies our holy Torah, and we, Yemenites living in Egypt and Jerusalem were greatly disgraced thereby, since they accuse us of denying Kabbalah which was received from Moshe at Mt. Sinai, and they blaspheme us. All the more since they heard that in Sanaa there is a controversy and there are already two factions, one named Ikshim and the other Darda'im… and they have become divided into different groups…". The author then refutes the claims raised by the Darda'i scholar from Sanaa in his booklet, disproving them through logic and reason, and bringing proofs to bolster faith in the Zohar and Kabbalah.
[5] leaves (8 written pages). 21 cm. Good condition. Placed in old sealed plastic sleeves.
Enclosed: Emunat Hashem (Jerusalem, 1937). This book was printed in the context of the same polemic, and it contains the arguments raised by the Darda'im in their booklets, together with refutations of their claims. Fair condition. Extensive worming. Original cloth binding.
"I thought to add my touch, to compose a foreword for the book Yesod HaEmuna VeYesod HaAvoda authored by… R. Yaakov Shlomo Kassin…". Yesod HaEmuna was composed by R. Kassin in 1926, and it forms a complete composition responding to the polemic booklets which the Darda'im of Yemen wrote to undermine the authenticity of the Zohar and its authorship by R. Shimon bar Yochai (Yesod HaEmuna was ultimately only published in 1981, and again in 2011. This foreword was apparently not included).
In this manuscript, composed by a Yemenite Torah scholar (whom we were not able to identify), the author writes: "Since I saw an outrageous occurrence, of a scholar from a city in Yemen named Sanaa, who degrades the holy Zohar, stating that it is not a holy book neither was it written by R. Shimon bar Yochai… rather by a philosopher… and he wrote some booklets, matters of foolishness and emptiness, that even a young child would laugh at, unconceivable nonsense… When these booklets arrived and were viewed by the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities, as well as communities dwelling in Egypt and Jerusalem, they decried him as one who denies our holy Torah, and we, Yemenites living in Egypt and Jerusalem were greatly disgraced thereby, since they accuse us of denying Kabbalah which was received from Moshe at Mt. Sinai, and they blaspheme us. All the more since they heard that in Sanaa there is a controversy and there are already two factions, one named Ikshim and the other Darda'im… and they have become divided into different groups…". The author then refutes the claims raised by the Darda'i scholar from Sanaa in his booklet, disproving them through logic and reason, and bringing proofs to bolster faith in the Zohar and Kabbalah.
[5] leaves (8 written pages). 21 cm. Good condition. Placed in old sealed plastic sleeves.
Enclosed: Emunat Hashem (Jerusalem, 1937). This book was printed in the context of the same polemic, and it contains the arguments raised by the Darda'im in their booklets, together with refutations of their claims. Fair condition. Extensive worming. Original cloth binding.
Yemenite Jewry - Manuscripts, Letters and Glosses
Yemenite Jewry - Manuscripts, Letters and Glosses