Long, narrow vellum scroll enabling the "Counting of the Omer", in small format. Handwritten and illustrated, including an illustration of the coat of arms of Modigliani family. [Italy, 18th century]. Hebrew.
Brown-tinted ink on vellum.
Scroll enabling the mitzvah of the "Counting of the Omer", handwritten in square Sephardi script onto two long, narrow vellum sheets sewn one to the other.
The blessing over the "Counting of the Omer" appears at the beginning of the scroll, followed by the ending words "SheHaYom La-Omer" ("That this day of the ‘Omer’ is…" – Italian nusach [version]). Both segments are enclosed within a fancy decorative frame shaped like an architectonic arch. This prelude is then followed by the counting of the days and weeks in keeping with the mitzvah, with various decorations and illustrations – mostly of animals – appearing at the end of each week: At the end of the first week we see a pair of rampant lions with extended tongues and with a stalk of wheat between them; after the second week, a pair of pointing hands, and between them a Star of David; following the third week, a bird of prey with an eight-point star to its left and a sun and moon to its right; the fourth week is followed by a pair of roosters with a Star of David between them; the fifth week by a crowned, couched lion, ready to pounce; the sixth week by two peacocks, one with its tail folded up and the other with the tail outspread; and the sixth week by a bird of prey next to a deer.
Underneath the final illustration at the end of the seventh week is a micrographic text in the form of a crowned lion bearing the (Hebrew) prayer "May it be thy will, O Lord our God and God of our forefathers, that You return the service of the Temple to its place speedily in our days, and grant us a share in thy Torah". Underneath this micrographic text is a "LaMenatze’ach" Menorah (containing the micrographically inscribed text of Psalms 67).
An additional architectonic arch appears in the lower margin of the vellum scroll. It frames the coat of arms of the Modigliani family: a rooster, grasping a branch, standing on top of a triple-peaked mountain, with a crescent moon to its left and an eight-point star to its right. This emblem also appears on a "ketubah" from Rome dated 5553 (1792-93; Yale University Library, New Haven, Ms. Hebrew +93:4) as well as on a "ketubah" from Rome dated 5563 (1802-03; Mejanes Library, Aix-en-Provence, France, Ms. Heb. 1380).

Width: 8-8.5 cm. Length: 129.5 cm. Fair condition. Fold lines to vellum, creases and stains. Tears to edges. Small strips of vellum missing, mostly causing no damage to text or illustrations. Some faded ink. Handwritten notations on verso: “Richa ---” and “Menachem” (the latter in Hebrew).

Exhibitions:
1. United colors of Judaica, Eliahou Eric Bokobza: Multiple Jewish Identities – a New Perspective, edited by Smadar Sheffi. Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People, 2015, p. 52 (Hebrew and English).
2. Araldica Ebraica in Italia, by Elivo Giuditta. [Torino], Società Italiana di Studi Araldici, 2007, p. 185-186.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 082.012.001.