Moses Ben Mordecai Zacuto - Mystical Pursuits

Mystical Pursuits

Zacuto applied himself with great diligence to the study of the Cabala under Ḥayyim Vital's pupil Benjamin ha-Levi, who had come to Italy from Safed; and this remained the chief occupation of his life. He established a seminary for the study of the Cabala, and his favorite pupils, Benjamin ha-Kohen and Abraham Rovigo, often visited him for months at a time at Venice or Mantua, to investigate cabalistic mysteries. He composed forty-seven liturgical poems, chiefly cabalistic, enumerated by Landshuth (l.c. pp. 216 et seq.). Some of them have been printed in the festal hymns Hen Ḳol Ḥadash, edited by Moses Ottolenghi (Amsterdam, 1712), and others have been incorporated in different prayer-books.

He also wrote penitential poems (Tiḳḳun Shobabim, Venice, 1712; Leghorn, 1740) for the service on the evening before the day of New Moon, as well as prayers for Hosha'na Rabbah and similar occasions, all in the spirit of the Cabala. Zacuto was, moreover, the author of a poem containing a thousand words, each beginning with the letter "א" (Elef Alpin; printed with a commentary at the end of the Iggerot ha-ReMeZ, pp. 43 et seq.), a long poem, Tofteh 'Aruk, or L'Inferno Figurato (Venice, 1715, 1744), in which he depicts the punishments of hell, and the oldest dramatic poem in the Hebrew language, which A. Berliner first edited under the title Yesod 'Olam (Berlin, 1874).

Other published works of Zacuto's are:

• Shudda de-Dayyane, a guide for decisions on commercial law (Mantua, 1678; reprinted in Ha-Goren, iii. 181 et seq.)
• Ḳol ha-ReMeZ (published posthumously), a commentary on the Mishnah (which he knew by heart), with elucidations of the commentaries of Bertinoro and others (Amsterdam, 1719)
• A collection of responsa with the decisions of contemporaries (Venice, 1760)
• Iggerot ha-ReMeZ, containing letters of cabalistic content written by himself and others (Leghorn, 1780)
• He edited and emended also the Zohar (Venice, 1663) and other writings. A considerable number of his works, such as a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, homilies, and cabalistic writings, are still unpublished as of 1906.