INTRODUCTION BY MOSES BASSOLA

Said the young man, Moses Bassola:¹ as well as Moses Cordovero’s ethical treatise Tomer Devorah (Venice, 1589).

footnotes: ¹ Bassola was a sixteenth-century Kabbalist, originally from Safed, who settled in Italy and collaborated with Gedaliah Cordovero on the publication of Or Ne’erav

It is incumbent upon me to praise the sage, his honor, our teacher, Rabbi Gedaliah,² son of the rabbi who authored [this work], may his righteous memory be a blessing. For he has kept the covenant of brotherhood and his old friendship [with me] in the Land of the Hart [Israel], may it be speedily rebuilt and established. He has brought me into the chamber of his learning and has stood me at his right hand to help and support him in order to raise the stumbling block from the path of this important book.

footnotes: ² Gedaliah Cordovero (1562-1625), son of Moses Cordovero, was born in Safed. In Italy he collaborated with Moses Bassola and Menaḥem Azariah of Fano in the publication of various Kabbalistic treatises, including several by his father.

The threefold thread (Eccles. 4:12) with us is the great sage, the venerable and exalted Rabbi Israel, who works successfully with great might and power in the labor of printing honestly and for the sake of heaven. We have trusted, therefore, with God’s mercy, that he will proofread properly, as he did in [the book] *Seder ‘Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim,*³ which was all his [work]. Mistakes are not found with him.

footnotes: ³ This was published in Venice in 1587.

To those who know may God be pleasant. May the blessing of heaven above come upon them.

These are the words which Moses Bassola spoke when he saw [this] composition and its value and the honor of [its] excellent majesty (Esther 1:4):

All Israel has a place in the world of worthy souls which are cut out from under the throne⁴ 24a. of Him who made the earth with His power and understanding, who stretched forth the heavens (Isa.44:24). *This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God,*⁵ blessed the children of Israel (Deut. 33:1) in order to purify their thoughts and to securely establish wisdom, and to be enlightened with the light of the living (Job 33:30). [However,] it was hidden from the eyes of the living until his son the sage,⁶ may his Rock and Redeemer protect him, came and brought forth the sun from its place to bring light to the earth and those who dwell [there]. It is a treatise which princes have written. The benefactors of the people have said of it: Taste and see its sweetness and its worth. Every man should bear it in his desire and his bosom.

footnotes: ⁴ Cf. Zohar Ḥadash ⁵ A reference to Moses Cordovero. ⁶ A reference to Gedaliah Cordovero.

This is my portion from all my labor (Eccles. 2:10) to bring as a gift my poem of praise:

Go now, my songs, exultations, and poems

To praise and extol Him who formed abundances

And planted with wisdom His messengers in the Garden⁷.

footnotes: ⁷ A reference to Cordovero’s Pardes Rimmonim

And caused this Light to shine to heal the flesh

Well and proper like the onyx and jasper.

It is Pleasant to all mouths like the honey of bees.

It was hidden away and concealed from the multitude

In the Land of the Hart, in inner chambers

Until Gedaliah came and said, “Let there be light,”

Like the clear sun causes light, and revealed the secrets.

Still I speak to my heart and continue to write:

Beloved, take the Pleasant Light, as one who finds a great spoil (Ps. 119:162).

[Written] by a great man, a rabbi like a lion in the streets (Prov. 26:13).

In it you will find secrets, it talks of exalted things

On the subject of [divine] attributes and the healing of thoughts.

[It speaks of] the secret of exalted Keter and Ḥokhmah, high in its hidden place,

Of Binah in the palanquin far and near.

Gedulah on the right, Gevurah bearing judgment

Like a mount of myrrh and frankincense and lofty walls.

The attribute of Tiferet is tied in the middle

And Neẓaḥ gathers the splinters in the path.

Hod and Yesod reveal to Malkhut, the bride,

And repeat and sit upon the pool.

In its midst is all wealth, in it is worthiness and uprightness

In the number ten [who are] well favored and good (Gen. 41:2).