Obj. ID: 38960
Jewish printed books  Sefer ha-Gilgulim by Chaim ben Yosef Vital, Żółkiew, 1774

This text was prepared by William Gross:

The book is based on the writings of R. Yaakov Tzemach, and was edited by R. Meir Poppers. During a conference of rabbis of Frankfurt in 1682, a ruling was issued prohibiting the publisher R. David Greenhut to distribute Sefer HaGilgulim "due to the hazard", but the publisher did not heed the warning and published the book in 1684. In his foreword, "The printer's foreword" on the verso of the title page, the publisher condemns the decision to forbid the printing of the book. He supports his claim with various Kabbalah books which were previously printed in Frankfurt with the approbation of prominent Frankfurt rabbis.
A later edition of Chaim Vital's first published work (Frankfurt a.M., 1684), a kabbalistic volume expounding on Isaac Luria's teachings on metempsychosis and the parallel theory of impregnation of the souls (Ibbur). According to the AR"I, every soul must migrate through other bodies in order to rid themselves of particles of evil. A refined soul will enter the body of another man and impregnate its soul to help it assist in the struggle for purity. Prior to its original publication, the Rabbis of Frankfurt took offense to the work's kabbalistic erotic imagery and opposed its publication due to the Sabbatean movement which still raged rampant. Consequently, the editor, David Greunhut, a renowned kabbalist and talmudist in his own right, commissioned Gentile printers over whom the Rabbis had no influence, to issue the text. (see M. Waxman, Vol. II, pp. 417-418s).
On the reverse of the title page are some small illustration of a Magen David with a fish on each side. On the front of the title page is written in large letters AMSTERDAM, while the books was published in Zolkiew.