Introduction to the Kabbalah

...the natural powers of every creature are stimulated from the very moment they come into the light to perform those actions for which they were destined; just as the bird is born to fly, the reptile to crawl, and others to their own proper duties; in the same way, he, guided by a certain singular force of genius drawn from his very birth, was immediately driven and pushed toward letters. Hence, while still a boy, he made such progress in all branches of learning—and I know not whether they were acquired from elsewhere or rather sprang from his own lively and fertile sharpness of mind—that although he spent only eighteen years, eleven months, and twenty-two days in this life (during which time a lethal disease stole much from him, first troubling him with certain attacks, as it were, and later keeping him confined to his bed for nearly a year until it took him from our midst), nevertheless, he held the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldean original: Latinam, Græcam, Hebraicam, Chaldæamque. "Chaldean" was the contemporary term for Aramaic, the language of the Zohar and many mystical Jewish texts. languages, and all sciences, as well-understood and familiar to himself.

Furthermore, he began to labor over Philosophical, Theological, Astronomical, Mathematical, and Kabbalistic original: Cabalisticos books in the fourteenth year of his age, and up until about his eighteenth year, he wrote most extensively on all these disciplines. Thus, anyone who has well explored the abundance and doctrine of these works, along with the source from which they flowed—that sharpness and fecundity of his genius, whose swift and copious movements manifested themselves most clearly when arguing and debating with the most learned men—will perhaps not doubt that if a full and normal course of life had been granted to him, he easily would have written more than any other mortal.

But one will certainly conclude this: that these writings of his, which either are being published now or will be in the future, will never represent the full excellence even of his youthful genius; for they were not polished by him with that intention, since no premonition of his fate The editor suggests his brother did not know he would die so young and therefore did not rush to "finish" these drafts for posterity. provided him the occasion to do so. Therefore, friend reader, if perhaps you seek something in this little book and do not find it, do not [ascribe] this [fault] so much to him...