Sha’ar HaMitzvos by Reb Chaim Vital – Copy of the Baal Shevet HaLevi – With Signatures and Marginalia of Sephardic Gedolim of Aram Tzova
Sha’ar HaMitzvos by Rabbeinu Chaim Vital, printed in Jerusalem in 1872 by Rabbi Yisrael Bak.
On the flyleaf, the sefer bears the stamp of the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, the Baal Shevet HaLevi zt”l.
The title page features the signatures of the esteemed mekubalim Rabbi Yom Tov Yedid HaLevi and his son Rabbi Eliezer Yedid HaLevi zt”l, who were the editors of the Siddur HaRashash and among the leading mekubalim in Aram Tzova and Yerushalayim. Throughout the sefer, there are numerous marginal notes in a Sephardic handwriting, likely written by them.
This is a premier Kabbalistic work from the teachings of the Ar”i Hakodesh and Reb Chaim Vital, previously owned by one of the early mekubalim of Yerushalayim and later studied by the Baal Shevet HaLevi!
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The Gaon and Posek HaDor, Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, the Baal Shevet HaLevi (1913–2015), was one of the greatest poskim of the last generation. Born in Vienna, he began his studies in 1931 at the yeshiva of Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, where he became a distinguished talmid of Rabbi Shimon of Zelichov. In 1937, he married the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Gelber of Pressburg. After his marriage, he received semicha from the Gaon Rabbi Akiva Sofer, the Baal Daas Sofer, and Rabbi David Wessely, Av Beis Din of Pressburg. In 1939, he ascended to Eretz Yisrael, initially residing in Tel Aviv and later in Yerushalayim, where he was close to Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky and Rabbi Shimshon Aharon Polansky, Av Beis Din of Teplyk. In 1943, he was appointed as a dayan and Rav of the Geulah neighborhood by the Eidah HaChareidis. In 1947, the Chazon Ish crowned him as the Av Beis Din of Zichron Meir in Bnei Brak, where he established the renowned Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin. Most of the Torah authorities in our generation were his talmidim. His psakim were decisive in shaping halachic practice in recent generations. His sefarim include Shevet HaLevi (responsa), Derashos, Moadim, and more.
The holy mekubal Rabbi Yom Tov Yedid HaLevi (1856–1923) was one of the great mekubalim of Aram Tzova who later ascended to Eretz Yisrael. He was among the leading mekubalim at the Yeshiva Beis El in Yerushalayim and was closely associated with the holy Rabbe Motele of Rachmastrivka zt”l. During the years of famine, he returned to Syria, where he taught the local sages the ways of Kabbalah according to the mekubalim of Beis El. His tombstone reads, "A man of G-d, unique in his generation, the light of Hashem illuminated his face, shining his light upon the world; he knew by heart the secrets of the Merkavah, his eyes beheld all that is precious, and he scorned the vanities of the world, dedicating his days solely to Torah…" As one of the greatest mekubalim in Yerushalayim, he published the Siddur HaRashash in 1911/1916, along with his son Rabbi Eliezer and others. His chiddushim were published in the sefer Simchas Yom Tov.
