Decorated Esther scroll, on vellum, scrolled on a silver handle. Baghdad, Iraq, mid-19th century.
Ink and paint on vellum; etched and engraved silver.
3 vellum membranes. The text of the Book of Esther is written in 21 columns, between which are decorative stripes of stylized flowers. 19-21 rows per column.
The scroll opens with three introductory columns, surrounded by frames with flowers and containing different inscriptions: The first column contains the blessings said before and after the reading of the scroll and: "Cursed be Haman, Blessed be Mordecai…". In the second column, in large ("rabbati") letters painted blue, is the inscription "Scroll of Esther the Queen and Mordecai the King". In the third column, in rabbati letters painted green and burgundy, against a vegetal background and inside a frame, is the inscription "There was a Jew in Susa the capital whose name was Mordecai", and, in the middle of the column - "Son of Jair, son of Shime'I, son of Kish". Henceforth, along the upper and lower borders, on the margins of all the membranes, the lineage of Mordecai, followed by the lineage of Haman, appears written in orange rabbati letters.
The vellum is scrolled on an engraved silver handle, with bands decorated in vegetal patterns. Above the upper band is another, smaller band engraved with the name of the owner, R.D. Sassoon.
The Feuchtwanger collection contains a similar scroll from 1848. The Stieglitz collection at the Israel Museum (Jerusalem) also contains a similar scroll, from 1854, apparently written and illustrated by Yitzhak Meir Chaim Moshe Gabai from Baghdad (the author of the 1854 scroll was identified by comparison with a manuscript of the Song of Songs that contained identical decorations, from the collection of Prof. Meir Benayahu).
Vellum height: 10.5 cm. Handle length: 20 cm. Good overall condition. Some stains. Paint smears, mostly to lineage text. Inserted in cloth-covered cardboard box with labels inscribed with the name of the famous collector David Solomon Sassoon.
Exhibited: Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall, London, 1887.
See:
1. Catalogue of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall, London 1887, Compiled by Joseph Jacobs and Lucien Wolf, Illustrated by Frank Haes. London, 1888, item no. 2061 (photographed).
2. "Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica" by Dr. Isaiah Shachar (Israel Museum, 1971), item 417.
3. "The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art", Chaya Benjamin (Israel Museum, 1987), item 191.
Provenance: Sassoon family collection.

Letter from the Cairo geniza, by Rabbi Shlomo Cohen of Alexandria (Egypt), to his father Rabbi Yehuda who resided in Fustat (now a part of the 'Old Egypt' area in Cairo), Shvat 1148. Judeo-Arabic.
Manuscript on paper; long narrow format. Complete letter (with damages to text), restored with a delicate net fabric and paper filling to margins.
Complete letter with very significant content, dated in the letter itself. One of the most important letters removed from the Cairo Geniza containing a unique historical documentation of the conquest of the Almohad (al-Muwahhidun) movement in North Africa and in Southern Spain and of the ensuing destruction of the Jewish communities.
The names of the addressee and the sender appear on verso of the letter [cutoff]: "… Our teacher and Rabbi Yehuda… grandson of the Geonim… His servant who prays to G-d on his behalf, Shlomo Cohen, Shalom" [the identity of the addressee, "Our teacher and Rabbi Yehuda" is unknown, however from the content of the letter it seems that he was a notable person and perhaps an important rabbinical figure.
The letter begins with various verses followed by a long description of the writer's personal state and many details of his personal business and his joint business with his father. He writes of purchase and sale of merchandise, of debts and payments to various people, etc.
Afterward, a long section appears beginning with the words: "As to your desire to know of the news in Maghreb, that whosoever heareth of it, his ears shall tingle". He then details the events which occurred at that time of the Almohad conquest of Maghreb cities relying on trustworthy updates ["I inform you of this, not from rumors but from someone who came and informed me"]. Among other things, he tells of the conquest of the city of Tlemcen by the forces of Abd al-Mu'min, a prominent member of Almohad movement, and of the murder of some Jews who lived there and coercion of others to convert (to Islam) ["and he will murder all those therein with the exceptions of those who were traitors and converted"]. He continues to recount the conquest of the city of Sijilmasa with the assistance of the residents who extradited the city into the hands of Al-Mu'min. He writes that before the invasion of the city, about 200 Jews escaped to El- Kasbah, Morocco including their own relatives. He adds that after the conquest of Sijilmasa, Al-Mumin tried
to convince the Jews to convert to Islam for the duration of seven months, after which he murdered 150 Jews who refused to convert and the rest converted. He mentions that Rabbi Yosef ben Amram who was a Dayan in Sijilmasa was among those who converted and labels him "the leading traitor". Further he writes of "Maghreb communities who were entirely traitorous and no one from Béjaïa to Sijilmasa, retained his Jewish names. Some were killed and other changed their religion". The letter also details the various Almohad invasions and numbers of the dead [he invaded Fez and conquered it killing 100,000 people and in Marrakech he killed 120,000 people…].
This is a distinctive documentation of the destruction of Jewish North African communities in the 12th century, by a Jewish merchant of that time who wrote about the events as they were happening.
After this long section, the writer returns to personal and commercial matters. In several places, he expresses his longing for his father and his hope to meet him. He also mentions a Jewish sage who was a disciple of R. Y. Migash and who left Sijilmasa for Egypt [Rabbi Y. Migash died seven years previously in 1141].
In the beginning of the 12th century, the Almohad Caliphate (al-Muwahhidun, "the Unifiers") movement was founded in North Africa by Ibn Tumart, a Muslim Berber who launched an open revolt against the ruling Almoravids and conquered Maghreb cities. Later, the Almohads also conquered the Al-Andalus territory in the Iberian Peninsula. The Almohad was an extreme Muslim movement that forcefully converted Jewish communities in each new city they conquered. In each city they invaded, the Almohad decreed upon the people to accept Islam or forfeit their lives. This decree led to the destruction of dozens of Jewish communities in North Africa and in Southern Spain. Many were murdered sanctifying G-d's name and thousands outwardly converted to Islam. The Ra'avad describes the destruction of the communities: "After the death of R. Yosef HaLevi (R. Y. Migash), came years of shmad to the Jewish people and they exiled from their homes, some to die, some to be killed by the sword, some died of hunger and some were taken into captivity… He decreed to singularly target the Jewish people and annihilate them until their name will be extinguished…". Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra wrote a lamentation on the destruction of these communities mentioning the names of those communities. Among them are Sijilmasa, Marrakech, Fez, Tlemcen, Meknes, Derah, etc.
At the time this letter was written, the Rambam was about ten years old. Following the Almohad conquests, his father, Rabbi Maimon the Dayan was forced to flee his city of Cordova with his family. They wandered for ten years after which they attempted to settle in Fez but were forced to leave after five years again fleeing the Almohad. They then made their way to Eretz Israel and from there the Rambam eventually travelled to Egypt. Following these events and the fact that Jews were coerced into outwardly accepting the Islamic religion to save their lives, the Rambam wrote his famous Igeret HaShmad, in which he defends those Jews and fiercely attacks the anonymous sage who claimed that those anusim are considered by Jewish law as idol-worshipers and as heretics.
This letter was purchased by the collector R. David Sassoon. The version in Judeo-Arabic was published in the book Ohel David (no. 713) and in other places. Some of the letter [the section related to the Almohad riots] was translated into Hebrew by R. Ya'akov Moshe Toledano, author of Ner HaMa'arav [this section was published in the Mekabtzi'el anthology, 37, pp. 651-652]. R. Toledano thinks that the writer of the letter is R. Shlomo Segan HaKohanim mentioned in Igeret Teiman by the Rambam, who journeyed from Egypt to Yemen.
A handwritten notebook is enclosed with the letter, with the full transcription of the letter and its Hebrew translation with explanatory notes written by Prof. Yitzchak Yechezkel Yehuda for R. David Sassoon.
Leaf, written on both sides. Length: 50 cm. Width: 18 cm. Fair condition. Stains and tears. Restored with transparent net fabric glued onto both sides of the letter and paper filling to margins. Bound.
Provenance: Sassoon family collection. Ohel David - no. 713.

Manuscript, "Sefer HaKitzin - By R. Moshe bar Nachman". [Spain? 14/15th century].
Ancient cursive Sephardi script [this script was already used at the end of the 13th century; possibly this manuscript was written at that time].
Complete manuscript, containing the entire composition, more commonly known as Sefer HaGe'ulah by the Ramban.
Ownership inscriptions in Italian writing: "Ezra of Pano son of the late Yitzchak" [died in c. 1608. Torah scholar of Mantua and Venice, uncle and teacher of the Rama of Pano, possessed a large library of manuscripts, including important copies of the Ari's kabbalistic teachings]; "Shimshon Cohen Modon" [1679-1727, Italian sage, Rabbi in Mantua, author of "Kol Musar"]; "Heirs of R. Shmuel of Pano".
Corrections, annotations and several long glosses, in Italian Hebrew script [by two writers].
In Sefer HaKitzin, or Sefer HaKetz, better known as Sefer HaGe'ulah, the Ramban writes about matters related to the Redemption and calculations of its coming. According to the Ramban's opinion in this composition, the prohibition of calculating the "end" is annulled in the generation which verges on the Redemption. He writes that the reason sages cursed those who calculate the "end of the days", is that they knew the length of its coming "and do not want it to be revealed lest this (belatedness) weaken their anticipation", but in our days it is not forbidden to calculate the Redemption. True to his belief, the Ramban attempted to determine the Redemption using several sources from the book of Daniel and he reached the conclusion that in the year of 1358, the Messiah son of Efraim will reveal himself and in 1402, the Messiah son of David will appear.
[42] pages. Fair condition. Stains and wear, worming, dampstains and tears, some restored. Several leaves have tears or damages affecting text.

Quires (signatures) from Tractates Bava Kama and Bava Metziah, printed in Soncino, in 1489 by Gershom Soncino and David Pitzigton. The first printed edition of the Talmud.

[Psalterium Hebraicum] / Tehillim (Psalms). [Leipzig 1533].
Vowelized, with roots of words in the margins. At the end of the book is a colophon, stating that the book was published by Anton Margaritha.
At the end of some other copies are four additional leaves - Hebrew translation of several verses from the Gospel of Matthew. The copy offered here was bound originally without these leaves, possibly due to the fact that it was intended for sale to Jews.
[116] leaves, 14.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, many inscriptions. Contemporary binding with leather spine, damaged.
The first Hebrew book printed in Leipzig. Not in NLI and to the best of our knowledge, has not been auctioned in the past. In the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book it is listed according to a copy in the library of the Schocken Institute. That copy is listed as having [80] leaves whereas the copy offered here has [116] leaves.