Akeidath Yitzchak [philosophical and allegorical sermons on the Pentateuch]

ARAMA, ISAAC

Don Judah Gedaliah, Joseph de Crasto & Eliezer de Arles for Solomon ibn Yakar

Salonika

1522

FIRST EDITION. Printed without a title page. Five parts bound in one volume.

Vinograd, Salonika 29; Mehlman 1220; not in Adams

An Exceptional Copy. First edition of a fundamental work of Jewish homiletics. Very seldom found complete. Representative of an anti-Aristotelian trend, directed chiefly against Maimonides and his followers, Arama’s philosophical influence is reflected primarily in the writings of Isaac Abarbanel. The author, affectionately known as the “Ba’al Akeida,” has been consistently quoted and utilized, especially by Polish and Galician preachers, until the present day. Numerous works interpreting Arama’s philosophy were issued through the centuries, of particular note is Israel Kitover’s Biurei Ha’midoth (1875). Arama’s great popularity stems from his stylistic combination of the Aschkenazic didactic and moralizing style with the philosophic tendency popular among Spanish and Provencal Jews. See I. Rivkind, Kiryat Sepher, vol. II p.60. JIM: Place text below image on it’s own page.