Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection

Jan 21, 2025
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Lot 15 Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters

Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ]. Written in large, vocalized lett
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Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters Manuscript, Chumash with Masorah – Yemen, Ca. 15th/16th Century – Winding Letters and Special Letters
6 PHOTOS
Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection Jan 21, 2025
Opening: $3,000
Estimate: $5,000 - $10,000
Sold for: $6,875
Including buyer's premium

Manuscript, Chumash Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th Century ].


Written in large, vocalized letters, with cantillation. Many places contain special letters: winding letters Pe and broad letters Chet, decorated crowns (Tagin), large letters and the like. Decorations at beginnings of sections. On margins of leaves, short Masoretic notes, unvocalized – Masorah Ketanah (on p. 53b appears a kabbalistic note in the same hand as the Masoretic notes, interpreting the number ten in the book of Bemidbar, 7:14 ["one spoon [weighing] ten [silver shekels] of gold"] as a source for the ten Sefirot [according to Sefer Yetzirah]).
The volume is lacking at the beginning and end. It begins in the middle of Parashat Tzav of the Book of Vayikra, and ends in Parashat Vayelech of the Book of Devarim.

[163] leaves. Approx. 20 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including large dampstains to most leaves. Wear and open tears to margins (repaired with paper). In several places, the text of the Masoretic notes is faded and deleted. New binding, with leather spine and corners, slightly damaged.

Provenance: Purchased from Prof. Meir Benayahu.

Category
Manuscripts – Yemenite Jewry
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Lot 16 Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa

Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473]. Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning o
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Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Devarim – Yemen, 1473 – Scribed by Rabbi David son of Rabbi Benaiah, Renowned Scribe of Sanaa
6 PHOTOS
Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection Jan 21, 2025
Opening: $6,000
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000
Sold for: $25,000
Including buyer's premium

Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Devarim. Sanaa (Yemen), [Shevat 1473].
Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning of each parashah vocalized (with supralinear vocalization). Glosses, corrections and notes, in margins and between lines, by various writers of different periods.
On last leaf, colophon of scribe R. David son of Benaiah son of Saadiah, who scribed the book in Sanaa in 1473, on behalf of Shalom son of Yehudah son of Amram Alkawas who ordered it: "This Midrash HaGadol is completed with the help of the great G-d, Thursday, 29th Shevat [1473], in the city of Sanaa; may it be a good sign for its master who occupied himself with it, Shalom son of Yehudah son of Amram Alkawas… and the writer David son of Benaiah son of Saadiah, may G-d forgive me for any error I made…". Between the lines are added blessings for the living over the names of the scribe and his father, while a blessing for the deceased is added over the name of his grandfather.


The scribe R. David son of Benaiah son of Saadiah (son of Zechariah Al-Margaz), son of R. Benaiah the scribe, from the famous family of scribes in Sanaa (see: Michael Riegler, Benaya the Scribe and His Descendants – A Family of Scribes from Yemen, Pe'amim LXIV, 1995, pp. 53-67 [Hebrew]). The scribe R. David was active ca. 1470s-1510s (see further: Gavra, Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, I, pp. 81-82). In his Even Sapir, R. Yaakov Sapir published a poem copied from R. David's handwriting (Even Sapir, II, Mainz 1874, pp. 232-233; see: Malachi Beit-Arié, A Colophon-Poem in Yemenite Pentateuch Manuscripts, Shai LeHeiman – A.M. Habermann Jubilee Volume, Jerusalem 1977, p. 37 [Hebrew]).


R. David's other known manuscripts include: a parchment Taj dated 1487 from the Alsheich synagogue in Sanaa, which is considered one of the most accurate manuscripts; a Taj dated 1485, regarding which several documents from 1536 and 1733 detailing its sale were discovered (see: Gavra, Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, I, pp. 2-3, 237, 445); a Taj dated 1510, also from the Alsheich synagogue in Sanaa, containing a record of its sale in 1570 (see: Gavra, ibid., p. 286); a Taj dated 1498, now held in the Westminster College Library in Cambridge (see: Gamlieli, Chikrei Lashon, p. 36); a Taj dated 1484 purchased by the famous traveler R. Yaakov Sapir, now held in the Cambridge library (Ms. Add. 1174; see above article by M. Beit-Arié, Shai LeHeiman, pp. 37-39 – who also lists other manuscripts scribed by R. David son of R. Benaiah, including a manuscript dated 1490, located in the British Library in London, Ms. Or. 2349); and more.


His father,
R. Benaiah son of Saadiah son of Zechariah – "the most renowned scribe in Yemen" (Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, I, p. 42), head of the famous family of scribes active in Sanaa. Colophons he scribed read: "The weak scribe… the least of scribes… Benaiah son of Saadiah son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Oded, known as Ben Margaz" (see: M. Beit-Arié, Asufat Ketavim Ivriyim MiYemei HaBeinayim, I, Oriental and Yemenite Scripts, Jerusalem 1988, plate 140). The famous traveler R. Yaakov Sapir, who visited Yemen in the 19th century, reports in his book Even Sapir: "…I did not find many early manuscript Bibles as I hoped, since their last exiles and tribulations did not leave much surviving; the oldest ones are some five hundred years old. The most accurate ones were produced by Benaiah, the expert and punctilious scribe, and unbelievably, he is said to have scribed four hundred books in his lifetime…" (Even Sapir, Lyck, 1866, leaf 102).

R. Yaakov Sapir also mentions Miriam the scribe, daughter of R. Benaiah, who also worked as a copyist: "He also had a daughter who was an expert scribe, and I was shown a manuscript Chumash concluding with the inscription: 'Do not condemn me if you find any errors, as I am a nursing woman, Miriam daughter of Benaiah the scribe' – and it is accurate, with neat, beautiful script" (Even Sapir, ibid.). R. Benaiah himself scribed books ca. 1450-1483, and he passed away ca. 1484, as evidenced by a colophon written by his son the scribe R. Yosef son of Benaiah, where R. Benaiah is mentioned as deceased (Ms. Jerusalem, Benayahu collection, quoted by: M. Riegler, Benaya the Scribe and His Descendants – A Family of Scribes from Yemen, ibid., p. 63).

As stated above, the present volume's colophon mentions him with a blessing for the living. According to Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, R. Benaiah son of Saadiah is "the most renowned scribe in Yemen… His fame is due to the dozens of manuscripts he, his sons and grandsons copied… According to one opinion, he served as head of the Sanaa Beit Din… The vast majority of books they copied are Bibles with Masorah and Machberet HaTijan… His copyings are considered most accurate, and he is viewed as the greatest Masoretic authority. The question of the relation of his Masorah to the Tiberian Masoretic school is greatly contested among scholars… Tradition holds that he and his family copied hundreds of manuscripts, of which dozens have passed down to us…" (Gavra, Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, I, pp. 42-43). See there for a partial list of his known extant manuscripts.

The Hebrew Paleography Project lists some 40 manuscripts from the family of Benaiah, located today in various libraries and collections (M. Riegler, Benaya the Scribe and His Descendants – A Family of Scribes from Yemen, ibid., p. 54).

[281] leaves. Approx. 26.5 cm. Varying condition – good to fair. Stains, wear and tears. Most leaves in good condition. First three leaves contain large open tears, heavily affecting text (repaired with paper). Marginal open tears to other leaves at beginning, middle and end of volume, affecting text in a few places (repaired with paper). Inscriptions. New leather binding.

Provenance:
1. Formerly of the collection of Dr. Israel Mehlman, no. 14 (see: Gavra, Encyclopedia LeChachmei Teiman, I, p. 82).
2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection (see: M. Riegler, cited above, pp. 61, 66).

Category
Manuscripts – Yemenite Jewry
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Lot 17 Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Bereshit – Yemen, 16th Century

Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Bereshit. [Yemen, ca. 16th century]. Early Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginn
Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Bereshit. [Yemen, ca. 16th century]. Early Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginn
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Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Bereshit – Yemen, 16th Century Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol Bereshit – Yemen, 16th Century
2 PHOTOS
Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection Jan 21, 2025
Opening: $3,000
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000
Sold for: $8,750
Including buyer's premium

Manuscript, Midrash HaGadol to Bereshit. [Yemen, ca. 16th century].


Early Yemenite script. Reshut piyyutim at beginning of each parashah vocalized (with sublinear vocalization). Many marginal additions, including references, Judeo-Arabic translations, explanations and glosses – some by the scribe himself, and some by other writers.
The manuscript lacks a small amount at the beginning and end: it begins in the middle of the introduction and ends towards the end of Vayechi (in the middle of the midrashim on Jacob's death).

[231] leaves. 28.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, wear and tears. On first and last leaves, marginal open tears slightly affecting text (repaired with paper filling). New leather binding.

Category
Manuscripts – Yemenite Jewry
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Lot 18 Manuscript, Tiklal Siddur – Yemen, Ca. 1653

Manuscript, Tiklal Yemenite-rite siddur, prayers and customs for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, festivals and fast days. [Yemen
Manuscript, Tiklal Yemenite-rite siddur, prayers and customs for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, festivals and fast days. [Yemen
Manuscript, Tiklal Yemenite-rite siddur, prayers and customs for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, festivals and fast days. [Yemen
Manuscript, Tiklal Yemenite-rite siddur, prayers and customs for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, festivals and fast days. [Yemen
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Manuscript, Tiklal Siddur – Yemen, Ca. 1653 Manuscript, Tiklal Siddur – Yemen, Ca. 1653 Manuscript, Tiklal Siddur – Yemen, Ca. 1653 Manuscript, Tiklal Siddur – Yemen, Ca. 1653
4 PHOTOS
Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection Jan 21, 2025
Opening: $1,500
Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000
Sold for: $3,500
Including buyer's premium

Manuscript, Tiklal Yemenite-rite siddur, prayers and customs for weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, festivals and fast days. [Yemen, ca. 1653].


Neat, early Yemenite script, characteristic of the 17th century. The verses and some of the prayers are marked with supralinear vocalization. The margins of some leaves contain glosses by various writers: comments, allusions, keri and ketiv, corrections and added prayers and piyyutim.
The manuscript comprises: weekday prayers, Shabbat prayers, Pirkei Avot, songs for Shabbat and Motzaei Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh prayers, Pesach prayers, Pesach Seder and Haggadah, Shavuot prayers, fast day prayers, Eichah and Kinot for Tishah B'Av, high holiday prayers and Tractate Yoma, Sukkot prayers, Hoshanot, Hakafot and piyyutim for Simchat Torah, instructions for Chanukah and Megilat Beit Chashmonai, Purim prayers, mourning service, Selichot, Yom Kippur service, Birkat HaMazon and blessings (including blessings for weddings, circumcisions and pidyon haben), intercalation and charts of tekufot, texts for ketubot, divorce documents and other documents, reprimands and bakashot, Pitum HaKetoret, Tikun Rosh Chodesh, liturgical poems, and the Book of Iyov.


The siddur is lacking the beginning and end. The manuscript begins with the order of reading the Torah for weekdays, then weekday afternoon and evening prayers, and ends in the middle of chapter 21 of the Book of Iyov.
In the Hakafot for Hoshana Rabba (p. [51a]), at the end of the sixth hakafah, there is an added hakafah for Phineas, with an introduction: "The proofreader says: This is an additional hakafah arranged by R. Menachem Azariah in place of Joseph who is not one of the forefathers who had a covenant as we learn in Tractate Derech Eretz, namely Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Phineas and David; and some have this custom in the western lands". This gloss was first printed in the Sephardic-rite Seder Avodah printed in Venice, 1602-1604 – in the lifetime of R. Menachem Azariah [Rama] of Fano (see: M. Benayahu, Defus Zanetti, Asufot XII, pp. 120-121), and the contents of the gloss were already copied by R. Y. Bashiri into his Tiklal in 1618 – two years before the passing of R. Menachem Azariah in 1620 (see: Aviran HaLevi, Tiklal LeChag HaSukot, Bnei Brak 1989, preface, p. 49, and Maaneh Lashon, p. 13).

The charts of tekufot at the end of the manuscript (pp. [95b]-[97a]) begin from 5413 (1652-1653), hence the dating to ca. this year (although it may have been copied after 1653).


[116] leaves. 27.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear, including dampstains and traces of former dampness. Marginal open tears to many leaves, affecting text (repaired with paper). Ex libris label. New binding, with parchment spine.

Category
Manuscripts – Yemenite Jewry
Catalogue
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Lot 19 Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century

Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of
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Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim Siddur – Two Volumes – Yemen, 18th Century
6 PHOTOS
Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection Jan 21, 2025
Opening: $2,000
Estimate: $3,000 - $8,000
Sold for: $5,750
Including buyer's premium

Manuscript, Tiklal Etz Chaim siddur, with commentary and halachot by the Maharitz – R. Yichya Tzalach (son of R. Yosef son of R. Tzalach). [Yemen, ca. 1780s]. With additions and supplements on additional leaves from later periods [Yemen, ca. 1886]. Two volumes.


Neat writing. The main text in the interior is vocalized, while the commentary is written around it in smaller letters. Apparently, most of the manuscript was copied during the lifetime of the author R. Yichya Tzalach, the leading rabbi of Yemen (d. 1805).

The first volume contains: Prayers and blessings for weekdays and Shabbat, tikun for Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah, order of blessings over meals, laws of mitzvot, blessings for circumcisions and weddings, calendrical calculations, and formulae for halachic documents. At the beginning and end of the volume are additions by various writers, from different time periods: a story involving Yehoshua bin Nun and the king of Armenia; hashkavah prayers and hakafot for the deceased; calendar of seasons from 1886; havdalah prayers; mnemonics for seasons and constellations; "Atzat Achitofel, which is a book of Goralot" [written ca. 1880s].

The second volume contains: Festival and high holiday prayers – Pesach tikun and Haggadah; prayers and Azharot for Shavuot; order of five fast days; lamentations for Tishah BeAv (which mention the year 1777 – see p. 69a; apparently this date is copied from another author, and not the date of writing of this siddur); Ashmurot; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers, with Avodah and Keter Malchut; prayers for Sukkot, with Hoshanot, prayer for rain for Shmini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah prayers; selichot for Yom Kippur and piyyutim for Rachamim prayers. At the beginning and end of the volume are additions by various writers, from different time periods, including: prayers "for the beating of the willow", for Sukkot evening kiddush and shaking of the lulav; Zevach Pesach by R. Suleiman son of R. Yosef Tzalach; Pitron Chalomot by R. Hai Gaon, and other prayers and piyyutim.


The Tiklal with the Etz Chaim commentary authored by the Maharitz is known as the "long commentary". It contains comments and novellae according to the simple meaning, the esoteric meaning and halachah, as well as comments and instructions copied from earlier Tiklal siddurim, including comments by R. Yitzchak (Mahari) Wanneh, author of Paamon Zahav, and others. The Haggadah begins with the Maharitz's famous introduction retracting his earlier rulings in his Aggadta DePischa: "In the days of my youth, about eighteen years ago, when I painstakingly authored the order of the Aggadta DePischa with all the comments and laws relevant to the nighttime seder… I now see that this is not the correct way for some of the laws given there, since some of the laws were given in accordance with the Shulchan Aruch and later authorities, not according to the custom practiced by our most ancient fathers based on books and scholars, the Rambam and Geonim. And now I retract my earlier position, and I went back to clarify the laws based on the early custom…".
On the margins of both volumes are added glosses by various writers. The piyyut Keter Malchut (p. 156b) contains a lengthy marginal note, signed at the end by "I who roll in the dust at the feet of the sages, Yosef son of Saadia". 


The end of the first volume (p. 213b) contains a chart listing the day to begin reciting VeTen Tal UMatar (the sixtieth day of fall), starting from Kislev 1781. The main part of this manuscript apparently dates to this time period. The same volume (leaves 203-208) also contains bound leaves in another, later hand with a chart of intercalated years, starting from the year 5646 (1885-1886), and leaves 219-228 contain additional mnemonics for the seasons and the book Atzat Achitofel, by the same writer. The beginning of the second volume contains bound leaves by the same writer dating to ca. the 1880s, with various prayers, and a copying of Zevach Pesach.
Several ownership inscriptions to first and last leaves (the original endpaper), some deleted.

Two volumes. [230] leaves; [228] leaves. Approx. 22 cm. Thick, high-quality paper. Overall good condition. Stains and many signs of use. Wear and tears. Light worming. New bindings (uniform).

Category
Manuscripts – Yemenite Jewry
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