Sefer HAMA'AMARIM me'et Rabbi Moshe Haim Luzzatto Z.TZ.L. kolel maamar al hahagadot, maamar ha'ikarim, maamar hakohkhma, maamar hageula

In Hebrew. Complete but mis-paginated: (6), 33, (3), 25-99, (1) pages. 183 x 119 mm.Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Moses Chaim, Moses Hayyim. Also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL or RaMHaL) (1707 The Jewish Ghetto of Padua, Italy - 16 May 1746 Acre/Akko, Israel) was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher. At an early age he acquired vast knowledge of religious lore, the arts, and science and his writings demonstrate mastery of the Tanakh, the Talmud, and the rabbinical commentaries and codes of Jewish law. At age 20 he claimed to have received direct instruction from a celestial Maggid, not an unheard of claim by older kabbalists. Many were enthralled by his written accounts of these "Divine lessons", but the leading Italian rabbinical authorities were suspicious and threatened to excommunicate him. Just 100 years earlier another young mystic, Shabbatai Zvi (1626-1676), had rocked the Jewish world by claiming to be the Messiah, convinced many European and Middle Eastern rabbis of his claim, only to then recant and convert to Islam. The global Jewish community was still reeling from that, and there were too many similarities between Luzzatto's writings and Shabbtai Zvi's. Under threat of excommunication Luzzatto agreed not to write the maggid's lessons or to teach mysticism. In 1735 Luzzatto left Italy for Amsterdam, believing that its more liberal environment would permit him to pursue his mystical interests. Passing through Germany, he appealed to the local rabbinical authorities to protect him from the threats of the Italian rabbis. They refused and forced him to sign a document stating that all the teachings of the maggid were false. Most of the Ramhal writings were burned. His 70 Tikkunim Hadashim resurfaced in 1958 in the main library of Oxford. When Luzzatto reached Amsterdam, he was able to pursue his studies of the Kabbalah relatively unhindered. Earning a living as a diamond cutter, he continued writing but refused to teach. It was in this period that he wrote his magnum opus the Mesillat Yesharim (1740), an ethical treatise with certain mystical underpinnings. The book presents a step-by-step process by which every person can overcome the inclination to sin and might eventually experience a divine inspiration similar to prophecy. Another work, Derekh Hashem, a concise work on the core theology of Judaism, is deemed authoritative by Orthodox Jewish Scholars. The same concepts are discussed in brief in a smaller book, Maamar Haikarim (= Essay on Fundamentals). Da'at Tevunot ("The Knowing Heart") and Derech Tevunot ("The Way of Understanding") are other works of his. One major rabbinic contemporary who praised Luzzatto's writing was Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), who was considered the most authoritative Torah sage of the modern era as well as a great kabbalist himself. He reputedly said after reading the Mesillat Yesharim, that were Luzzatto still alive, he would have walked from Vilna to learn at Luzzatto's feet. Luzzatto also wrote poetry and drama. Although most of it is seemingly secular, some scholars claim to have identified mystical undertones in this body of work as well. His writing is strongly influenced by the Jewish poets of Spain and by contemporary Italian authors. The cantor of the Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, Abraham Caceres, worked with Luzzatto to set several of his poems to music. Frustrated by his inability to teach kabbalah, Luzzatto left Amsterdam for the Holy Land in 1743, settling in Acre, but died, with his family in a plague 3 years later. Luzzato's original synagogue in Akko was razed by the city's Bedouin ruler, Zahir al-Umar, in 1758, who built a mosque on top of it. A century after his death, Luzzatto was rediscovered by the Musar movement, which adopted his ethical works. The great Torah ethicist, Israel Salanter (1810-1883) placed the Messilat Yesharim at the heart of the Musar (ethics) curriculum of the major yeshivot of Eastern Europe.…