R. Chaim Vital and His Unknown Work Sefer Ha-Pe'ulot
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R. Chaim Vital and his Unknown Work Sefer ha-Pe'ulot R. Chaim Vital and his Unknown Work Sefer ha-Pe’ulot: A Work on Science, Medicine, Alchemy and Practical Magic. by: Eliezer Brodt ספר הפעולות רבי חיים ויטאל, תש”ע, תלט עמודים כולל מבוא ומפתחות A few years back, in a post at the Seforim blog discussing the history of plant known as baladur, I mentioned a sefer, Refuah Ma’asiyot le-Rav Chaim Vital. At the time, I only briefly touched upon this work. What follows is a more detailed discussion of the recently published edition as well as the history and substance of the work. The author is R. Chaim Vital, the most famous student of the Arizal. This work was virtually unknown, and is a collection of science, medicine, alchemy and kabbalah ma’asiyot (practical magic). In 2007, Professors Amar and Buchman published a part of this manuscript, entitled Refuah Ma’asios L’Rav Chaim Vital. A few months ago, someone printed the whole manuscript and provided a different title, Sefer ha-Pe’ulot. As mentioned above, the author is R. Chaim Vital (1543- 1620). R. Vital is most well-known in the realm of kabbalah, and, specifically, as being the primary student of the Arizal entrusted with disseminating the Arizal’s works. R. Vital’s reputation, however, wasn’t confined to the Arizal’s teachings and kabbalah. R. Vital was well-represented in theniglah (revealed Torah) arena. R. Vital studied niglah with R. Moshe Alschich and R. Vital received (real) semikha during the time when such semikha was being given in Sefat.[1] Unfortunately, we do not have much of his writings in niglah with the few exception where his son quotes R. Vital in his son’s various works. For example, five responsa of R. Vital appear in Shu”t Baer Mayim Chaim (82-86) and the various pesakim scattered in his son’s works Chochmas Nashim, Chaim Shnayim Yeshalayim, and some of R. Vital’s other statements appear in Tosetos Chaim on Rashi. [2]. In Sefer ha-Chezyonot, R. Vital records R. Karo’s admonition צוה מהר”ר: to R. Alschich regarding R. Vital’s study inniglah יוסף קארו ז”ל למורי הר’ משה אלשיך בשם המלאך המגיד הדובר בו שיזהר מאוד ללמדני בכל יכלתו, כי אני הוא העתיד לישאר אחריו בדור .(ההוא ממלא מקומו של מהרי”ק (חזינות א:ג M. Benayhu in his work Toldos ha-Ari quotes R. Chaim Hakohen, וגם היה מקפיד מאוד:a student of R. Vital, regarding R. Vital שלא לכתוב קמיעות גם בתפילה לא הי’ מאריך כל כך רק אמר מלה במלה. והי’ אומר שאני רוצה ללמוד בשעה שאני זו שאני מאריך, וגם לא כאותן שמתפללין כל היום. והי’ לומד כל היום וכל הלילה (ספר (תולדות האר”י, עמ’ 243 For all the Kabbalah aspects related to R. Vital see Y. Avivi work’s Binyan Ariel, which caused great controversy, and his more recent three volume masterpiece Kabbalat ha-Ari. See also Lawrence Fine, Physicians of the Soul, Healers of the Cosmos. Much has been written about Vital’s famous autobiography, Sefer ha-Chezyonot, (see here and here) G. Scholem sums up some of the history of the work: ספר החזיונות יצא לאור מתוך כתב יד המחבר על ידי אהרן זאב אשכולי. ירושלים מוסד הרב קוק ג’ שלום כתב: אחרי הופעת הספר מיחו כמה רבנים בפני מוסד הרב קוק על שלא גנזו ספר זה וגרמו בזיון לתורה, וביניהם ראובן מרגליות מת”א שכתב להם שכתב היד בוודאי מזוויף מן האחרונים! (ספריית גרשום שלום בתורת הסוד היהודית, א, (#4331 Returning to the Sefer ha-Pe’ulot, it was first mentioned in brief by Gershon Scholem in Alchemie und Kabbala [recently translated into English by Klaus Ottman]. The alchemy section of this book was discussed by Raphael Patai in his book, Jewish Alchemists. Meir Benayahu discusses it in various places in his writings (amongst them in his book on the Ari and in two articles in Korot (9:3-17,9:91-111). Gerrit Boss, wrote an extensive article on this book called “Hayyim Vital’s Practical kabbalah and Alchemy; a 17th Century book of secrets” in the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Volume 4, pp. 54-112. In this article Boss reorders the book, as the book, as it is appears in the manuscript isn’t a model of clarity, doing an excellent job of putting each remedy into its proper categories. [Boss also criticizes the discussion of Patai on the topic of alchemy in relation to this work.]. Yosef Avivi briefly discusses in his catalog of the Musayif collection (Ohel Shem, pp.191-93) as that it where this manuscript came from. The whereabouts of the actual manuscript today are a mystery, rumors are that it is sold page by page for a segulah, and each page fetches a large sum of money. More recently, Prof. Zohar Amar and Yael Buchman in published two articles in Sinai (121:231-38 and 125:202-215) they focus upon the various halachic aspects discussed in this work. Buchman also wrote her doctorate on this work of R. Vital, Aspects of Material Culture, Realia and Medicine in the works of Rabbi Hayyim Vital (1543-1620), Bar Ilan Univ., (Heb). Buchman’s main focus is not the kabbalah parts but rather the science and medical aspects of this work. She demonstrates, at length, that this is an excellent document to give us a picture of the medical world during that time period. She also has an additional article about this work based on her doctorate in Katedra (99:48-64). In 2007, Buchman and Amar printed part of this book, Refuah Ma’asiyot le-Rav Chaim Vital. But, they printed only the medical portion. This edition, however, is very useful in understanding the medical aspects of the sefer. They note that a volume on the realia part is being prepared. What makes Sefer ha-Pe’olot especially interesting is that we see R’ Chaim Vital in a different light than previously known. In the first part of this work we see him as a doctor of sorts. He provides remedies to people for all kinds of illnesses, in all areas of health, asthma, infertility, headaches, toothaches and much more. Much of the advice was based on Segulos or the like. In this work he shows a familiarity with real medical procedures from that time period. He quotes various pieces of medical advice that he had had read in various medical works. We already were aware of Vital’s interest in science as he wrote a work called Sefer ha-Techuna related to astronomy. But, in Sefer ha-Pe’olot aside from showing him to be very involved in medicine we also see him interested in other things. For example, Vital provides in-depth descriptions of how to make wine, various milk products and the making of honey. He has a lengthy discussions of how to remove stains from clothes, how to dye garments, how to make ink and reeds for writing. These discussions are a gold mind of information for those studying realia of various time periods of Eretz Yisroel. Realia is a prime topic of interest for Professor Amar and Bochman and they deal with that in their excellent introduction to Refuah Ma’asiyot le-Rav Chaim Vital. This is also the main focus of Bochman’s previously mentioned doctorate. As Bochman writes in her doctorate ”this manuscript… is the sole Hebrew source originating in 16th century EY still known today, which discusses directly and in detail different aspects of material culture, realia and medicine. He thus provides a rare insight into the daily routine of the Jewish community in EY during this period, of the problems it faced and the ways in which those problems were solved.” Gerit Bos in his above cited article (pp. 59-62) also touches a bit on this aspect of realia. Bochman suggest an interesting reason for R. Vital interest in writing about all these practical things such as wine making dyeing, cheese making etc. ”R. Chaim Vital’s purpose in writing about everyday issues is in fact a reflection of his Halachic world view. A study of his Halachic and practical teachings confirms that R. Vital preferred to make the goods he needed himself rather than buying them from gentiles. In order to do so he had to find ways of simplifying the manufacturing process of many products. He succeeded, and thus avoided the Halachic problems raised as a result form purchasing from foreign sources.” Other Ideas Discussed in Sefer ha-Pe’olot Another large section of this work is segulos and kabbalah masiyot. This section contains many parts, many of which R. Vital writes he tested and used successfully, other recipes he tested and they did not work and yet others which he heard from reliable sources that they worked but he had not independently tested. All these sections, however, are not in any order. He returns to the same topic than goes to another and comes back to it again and again. Bos in his previously mentioned article does a nice job of organizing some of it into topics. There are methods for all kinds of things just to list a few: methods preventing Ayin Hara, bones stuck in a throat, finding out which woman one will marry, talking to dead people, how to deal with plagues, ways to track down thieves, dealing with enemies and help having children. I will discuss a few of these ‘recipes ‘and a little about them in other sources. She’elot Chalom – Asking Questions via DreamsHe includes many methods to find out information via dreams (pp.