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Meir ben Ezekiel Ibn Gabbai

(148 – after 1540)

Meir ben Ezekiel Ibn Gabbai was a kabbalist of the generation of Spanish exiles. The details of his life are not known. Apparently, he lived in Turkey and possibly died in Ereẓ Israel. He wrote three books dealing with the principal problems of Kabbalah. They are Tola'at Ya'akov (written in 1507 and first printed in Constantinople, 1560), on the prayers; Derekh Emunah (written in 1539 and first printed in Constantinople, 1560), an explanation of the doctrine of the sefirot in the form of questions and answers, based on Sha'ar ha-Sho'el by *Azriel of Gerona and incorporating views of the *Zohar; and Avodat ha-Kodesh, on the entire doctrine of the Kabbalah, in four parts – on the unity of God, the worship of God, the purpose of man in the universe, and an explanation of esoteric aspects of the Torah – an important work which he wrote from 1523 to 1531. The last is the most comprehensive and organized summary of the doctrine of the Kabbalah prior to the Safed period and was one of the most popular books on Kabbalah even with recent generations. It was first printed in 1566–68 under the name Marot Elohim. Gabbai was one of the leading proponents of the view that the Sefirot are the essence of divinity.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yaari, in: KS, 9 (1933), 388–93; Zunz, Lit Poesie, 381; Blau, in: ZHB, 10 (1906), 52–58. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.K. Ginsburg, Sod ha-Shabbat, from the Tola'at Ya'aqov of R. Meir ibn Gabbai, (1989); R. Goetschel, R. Meir Ibn Gabbai; Le Discours de la Kabbale espagnole (1981).


Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.