Mystics > Commentaries on commentaries
IBN GAON, SHEM TOV BEN ABRAHAM (13TH/14TH cent.).
Keter shem tov.
Manuscript in Hebrew on parchment.
14th century .
MS X893 G15
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
This very early kabbalistic work was written by Shem Tov ben Abraham Ibn Gaon, a Spanish kabbalist who eventually moved to Safed, the world center of kabbalah study in the late medieval and early modern period. This work is a commentary of a commentary (a super-commentary), explaining and expanding on the Biblical discussions of Moses ben Naḥman (Naḥmanides), who greatly influenced Shem Tov.
This particular page is interesting because of its unique layout; the letters of the Aleph Bet are written in two triangles, one upside down and one right-side up, in order to create one square with the complete text.
Gift of Congregation Temple Emanu-El, 1892.