Commentary on a Few Names: On the Beginning of Zacuto's Lexicon of Holy Names

Rabbi Moses Zacuto was the most prominent rabbi and kabbalist in Italy in the second half of the 17th century. His outstanding lexical enterprise in the field of Kabbalah of the holy names (kabbalat hashemot) was also a substantial contribution to the field of practical Kabbalah (kabbalah maʽasit). The ms Moscow, Russian State Library, Guenzburg 1448 contains the initial phase of this endeavor – a short work titled A Commentary on a Few Names, which is the focus of this article. We open with a discussion of the manuscript and the place of the Commentary in it. We then present the tract and discuss its contents, the kind of interest that Zacuto had in holy names, his information sources, his use of them, and the link between this preliminary treatise and his larger and more developed lexicon, Alphabet of the Names. Finally, we offer an annotated translation of the Commentary.