Commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca – With the Rare Portrait of the Author – Amsterdam, 1681 ...

Commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca – With the Rare Portrait of the Author – Amsterdam, 1681 – Spanish

Parafrasis comentado sobre el Pentateuco, paraphrastic commentary on the Torah by R. Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca. Amsterdam: Iaacob de Cordova, 1681. First edition. Spanish.
Commentary of R. Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca on the Torah. With approbations by three rabbis of Amsterdam: R. Yaakov Sasportas, R. Emmanuel ibn Attar and R. Solomon de Oliveyra.
With an engraved title page depicting biblical figures, by artist Johan van den Avele, and an additional plate – a mezzotint portrait of the author, R. Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca, by Aernout Naghtegael (originally signed in the plate; the bottom margin of the engraving in the present copy was trimmed and the signature is lacking). Printed Hebrew caption at the foot of the portrait. This portrait was included only in some copies of the book.
R. Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca (the third, 1605-1693) – one of the most prominent rabbis of Amsterdam in the 17th century – rabbi, kabbalist, author and translator. Born in Portugal, he immigrated to Amsterdam in 1612, where he studied under R. Yitzchak Uziel. At the age of 21, he already served as rabbi in the Jewish-Portuguese community in Amsterdam, a position he held for decades. He was one of the initiators of the establishment of the Esnoga, the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. He served as rabbi of Pernambuco, Brazil (which was then a Dutch colony) since 1642, and was thus the first rabbi to settle and officiate in the American continent, and the first Jewish author there. Following the war between Holland and Portugal, and the expulsion of the Jews from Brazil, he was compelled to return to Amsterdam in 1649, where he returned to his position as rabbi of the Portuguese community. He was one of the signatories on the ban against Baruch Spinoza in 1656 and around a decade later, he was one of the supporters of the false messiah Shabbetai Zevi.
The introduction to the book Kitvei Rabbenu Yitzchak Aboab da Fonseca – Chachmei Recife VeAmsterdam (Mifal Torat Chachmei Holland, Machon Yerushalayim, 2007, p. 59), suggests that the printer R. Yaakov Chaim de Cordova may have been the son of R. Moshe Refael de Aguilar, who was one of the rabbis and leaders of the Jewish community in Recife (the first Jewish community founded in the Americas) and Amsterdam.

[6], 234, 233-634 pages. 29 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears, including several long tears, affecting text. Marginal tears to title page and portrait (both leaves mounted on paper), affecting prints. Lower margin of portrait trimmed (with loss to artist's signature). Stamp at foot of title page (over engraving). Leaves trimmed with damage to printed marginal glosses. New leather binding.

The book is documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 374277.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.145.