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''Tomer Devorah'' (Hebrew: תומר דבורה, English: ''The Palm Tree of Deborah'') was written in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
in the middle of the 16th century by
Moses Cordovero
Moses Cordovero was a physician who lived at Leghorn (Livorno), Tuscany in the seventeenth century. David Conforte David Conforte (c. 1618 – c. 1685) () was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known ...
, a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
kabbalist in
Safed
Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...
,
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
. This short text deals mostly with the ''
Imitation of God
Imitation of God ( la, imitatio Dei) is the religious precept of Man finding salvation by attempting to realize his concept of supreme being. It is found in ancient Greek philosophy and several world religions. In some branches of Christianity, h ...
'' through the acquisition of divine traits, especially those of the
sephirot
Sefirot (; he, סְפִירוֹת, translit=Səfīrōt, Tiberian: '), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and ...
. The first edition was published in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 1588. Although not widely read among Jews today, it is popular in the
mussar tradition, which focuses on the individual cultivation of the
middot
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did n ...
, or qualities of God.
The title "Tomer Devorah" is borrowed from the original Hebrew in
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...
4:5.
Online Resources
English TranslationJewish Encyclopedia: Moses CordoveroOn-Line Learning from TeachItToMe.com* Ten Keys to Understanding Human Nature - based on Cordovero's system
Jewish philosophical and ethical texts
Kabbalah texts
Sephirot
Hebrew-language religious books
Sifrei Kodesh
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