Reshit Da'at - Venice, 1583 - First Edition - Manuscript from 1650 with Greetings and Poems about the Dedication of ...

Reshit Da'at - Venice, 1583 - First Edition - Manuscript from 1650 with Greetings and Poems about the Dedication of the Beit Midrash and Yeshiva in Venice Headed by the Divine Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Zacuto
Reshit Da'at - Derashot according to the teachings of the Sages. By Rabbi Moshe ben Rabbi Ya'akov Albilda. Venice 1583. First edition. Zuan Bragadin printing press.
9, 9-243 leaves. 20 cm.
At the end of the volume, a manuscript with rare and unique content from 1650, in honor of the dedication of the Beit Midrash and Chevrat Talmud Torah of Venice. The manuscript praises "the ministers of Chevrat Talmud Torah … and the seven pillars of the exile the champions of the Ashkenazic community" - the head of the yeshiva, the leader of the community, the kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Zacuto and the six rabbis: Rabbi Baruch Luzzatto, Rabbi Yitzchak Ha'Levi, Rabbi Yesha'aya Nitz, Rabbi Menachem Cohen Porto, Rabbi David Vadlinso and Rabbi Aharon Volttera. At the end of the manuscript, a poem by the writer who signed his name יפא"ה \ ינא"ה. On the reverse side of the leaf, two additional handwritten poems.
The manuscript also refers to the efforts of Rabbi Aharon Volttera to establish a Beit Midrash with "precious rooms full of books and scribes to teach and be taught…" It is most likely that the book before us had also belonged to the library of the Beit Midrash of Venice.
Before us is a historical discovery of the establishment of the Beit Midrash of Venice headed by the most prominent kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Zacuto, with the names of the most illustrious rabbis who studied or taught at the Beit Midrash. Until now, we have only known of the disciples of Rabbi Moshe Zacuto; now we know some details about his yeshiva!
Rabbi Moshe Zacuto (1625-1697) was born in Amsterdam, there he studied Torah with his first rabbi, Rabbi Shaul Morteira, the author of "Givat Shaul". He travelled to Russia and Poland to learn Torah. When he returned to Italy, he met the kabbalist Rabbi Binyamin Ha'Levi, who was an emissary of the community of Safed, who taught him kabbala. It was his intention to make a pilgrimage to Palestine, but on the way he was persuaded to remain as rabbi in Venice, where he stayed for twenty eight years.
In 1673, he moved to Mantua, there he founded a yeshiva with many students. There he also founded the enterprise of copying the writings of the Ari and Rabbi Chaim Vital. He lived in Mantua until his death.

Condition: Good-Very Good. A flaw in the two first leaves. Moth hole. Stains.