Decorated manuscript, Passover Haggadah and Passover prayers, with Shir HaShirim, produced by Yitzchak Meir Chaim Moshe Gabbai. Baghdad, 1853.
Complete manuscript, masterfully scribed and decorated. Semi-cursive and square Oriental script. Passover prayers and Haggadah decorated with geometric ornaments in ink. Large ornamental initial word panels in Shir HaShirim, decorated with colorful foliate designs and flowers (in yellow, orange, brown and reddish-purple hues).
The floral ornaments and the shapes of the letters in the initial word panels are identical to those found in a group of decorated Esther scrolls also produced by Yitzchak Meir Chaim Moshe Gabbai of Baghdad, in ca. 1848-1854. As evident from comparison of the present manuscript to the Esther scrolls produced by Gabbai, the vivid colors, the accurate and meticulous coloring, the symmetric ornaments and especially the meticulously executed stylized letters – were all prominent characteristics of his artwork, which give his manuscripts their trademark beauty.
From this group of scrolls, only six scrolls are extant today, three of which are held in museum collections (two in the Israel Museum – one in the Feuchtwanger collection and the other in the Stieglitz collection; the third is held in the Hechal Shlomo collection). These scrolls, known for their beauty and quality, appeared in many exhibitions and are documented in reference books. Nevertheless, for many years the identity of the artist who produced these scrolls was not known, and only in the 1980s was Gabbai identified as the artist, by comparison to the present manuscript, which was previously held in the Meir Benayahu collection (see: Catalog of the Stieglitz Collection, item 191).
Another interesting fact related to this manuscript and the scrolls is that two of the aforementioned scrolls (and presumably also the present manuscript) where previously part of the collection of David Suleiman Sassoon, whose mother Farha (Flora) Sassoon was the daughter of Ezekiel Gabbai, possibly related to the scribe of these manuscripts.
The manuscript includes: Passover Arvit prayer, Biur Chametz and Passover Haggadah with Judeo-Arabic translation (sharh), with the piyyut Emunim Archu Shevach by "Aharon HaKohen", and Shir HaShirim with Targum and Judeo-Arabic translation (verse by verse).
The beginning of the manuscript is dated Thursday, 19th Kislev 1853.
Writer's colophon at the end of the Arvit prayer: "The writer, I… Yitzchak Meir Chaim Moshe Gabbai… completed the Passover Arvit prayer on Tuesday, 23rd Kislev 1853, in the capital city of Baghdad". Following the colophon, the writer added curses in Judeo-Arabic to anyone who steals the manuscript. His name appears many more times throughout the manuscript. Additional colophon at the end of Shir HaShirim, dated 24th Cheshvan 1853.

[71] written leaves (+ blank leaves). 14 cm. Good condition. Stains (dark stains in several places). Minor marginal tears to a few leaves. Original ornamented leather binding, with minor blemishes.

Provenance:
1. Collection of Prof. Meir Benayahu.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IQ.011.014.

Decorated manuscript, Passover Haggadah and Passover Arvit prayer, with Shir HaShirim and Pirkei Avot with Judeo-Arabic translation, by R. Moshe [son of] Yosef Avraham Somekh. Baghdad, 1883.
Particularly impressive manuscript, masterfully scribed and decorated – over two hundred pages bearing colorful decorations (decorations on every page). Semi-cursive and square Oriental script. Decorated heading and initial word panels (enlarged characters, scribed in color, with floral decorations); LaMenatze'ach Menorahs before the Haggadah and Shir HaShirim.
Each page of text is framed in a border and divided into two columns (usually separated with a floral ornament). In most of the manuscript, the Hebrew text occupies the right column while the left column contains the Judeo-Arabic translation.
The writer signed his name in several places throughout the manuscript within the borders and ornaments. The name was later deleted with black ink, yet can still be discerned in several places, such as in the initial word "Min HaMetzar" (p. 8b): "Moshe Yosef Avraham Somekh"; and at the end of the Passover Haggadah: "I completed it on 26th Adar I, Moshe Yosef Avraham Somekh".
Scribed in the border surrounding the LaMenatze'ach Menorah preceding the Haggadah: "Passover Haggadah, original text and sharh [Judeo-Arabic translation]", "I begin writing the Passover Haggadah, original text and sharh – Judeo-Arabic translation…", "The writer and copyist… [name deleted], in 1883".
Scribed in the headpiece of Shir HaShirim: "I begin writing Shir HaShirim, original text and sharh following the Sephardic rite, here in Baghdad… 1883", "Shir HaShirim, original text and translation, I began on Tuesday, Rosh Chodesh Adar I 1883, in the Beit Midrash of Tzalach Nissim Eliya Aboudi".
Moshe [son of] Yosef Avraham Somekh is presumably the brother of Shaul [son of] Yosef Avraham Somekh, who scribed and decorated another manuscript in this catalog – see previous item.

[112] leaves. 14 cm. Good condition. Stains, including ink stains to a few leaves, slightly affecting text. Name of writer deleted in black ink in several places, affecting text. Tears to several leaves. Original leather binding, with minor defects.

Reference:
• Yohanan Fried and Yoel Rappel (eds.), Siddur Klal Israel, Jerusalem: Mesora Laam, 1991, p. 228.
• Barbara Rush, Passover Splendor: Cherished Objects for the Seder Table. New York, 2004, p. 8.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IQ.011.007.

Decorated manuscript, Tefillot Yesharot – kabbalistic siddur, with kavanot of the Arizal and kabbalistic practices – for weekdays, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah and Purim. [Turkey or another place in the region], 1734.
Complete, particularly beautiful and impressive manuscript, in a design reminiscent of Islamic prayer books. The title page is decorated with cartouches and floral ornaments in green, blue and gold. Each page of the manuscript is framed in a rectangular, gilt border, and contains the text of the prayers scribed in cursive Oriental script, with initial words and certain words in square script. Headings and other notes outside the border. Floral and foliate ornaments in several places. Original, leather covered binding, with gilt and red ornaments, also typical of Islamic prayer books. Several blank leaves interspersed in the manuscript, for inserting additional prayers.
Folded plate before the title page, with a gilt illustration of a LaMenatze'ach Menorah, including notes of its segulot. Inscription on verso: "This was the form of the menorah". A prayer to be recited "after the Menorah" is inscribed on the preceding page.
The illustrated title page states the title of the book, and the date of its completion: 11th Av 1734.
The text of the siddur includes many kabbalistic kavanot, prayers and practices, occasionally inserted by the writer in "windows" within the text.
See Hebrew description for partial list of contents of the manuscript.
Statement of the completion of the manuscript on the final page. Familial inscriptions in Ladino on the back endpaper, dated 1911-1925.

[225] leaves. Approx. 16 cm. Good condition. High-quality paper. Stains. Minor wear. Marginal ink stains (not affecting text). Original gilt-decorated binding, with minor blemishes; spine repaired.

Provenance:
1. Sotheby's Tel Aviv, 5 October 1984, lot 170.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, OT.011.010.

Manuscript, large anthology comprising a variety of works – halachot, zodiacs, goralot (lots), amulets, segulot, cures, and more. [Kurdistan?], 1792.
Neat semi-cursive Oriental script; with additions by various writers. Decorated title page. Ornamented initial words and borders, illustrations, tables and round charts – including a volvelle (movable wheel-chart) for calculating tekufot.
Decorated title page on p. 9a (preceded by several leaves with additions and tables of contents). The title page states: "Gelilei Zahav, a compilation… laws of shechitah… segulot… regarding plagues… moladot and Goral HaChol… sick people, and some other topics from Midrash Talpiot and segulot… begun in 1792…". The name "Zakai Chagai son of Chacham Mordechai" is inscribed within the hollow letters at the top of the title page. On verso of the title page, decorated page with the continuation of the title page text, stating the name of the writer of the manuscript – Zakai Chagai son of R. Mordechai (the name "Zakai Chagai" is written in small characters between the lines).
Each page of the manuscript is enclosed in a border, and divided into two columns: a wide column on the inside of each page, containing the text of various works, and a narrower column on the outside of the page. The narrow column contains occasional inscriptions, glosses and various additions, some inserted by the scribe of this manuscript, and some by later writers. Illustrations, diagrams, round charts and tables in several places. Including: illustrations clarifying the laws of shemittah; illustration of a palm of a hand for calculating tekufot (from the book Levush HaChur, section 428; adapted to the years 1790-1792 – the time of writing of the manuscript); on p. 61, paper volvelle for calculating years (sewn to the leaf at the center); on p. 98a, protection for a child with the figure of Lilith bound in chains; illustrations of amulets, angelic script, and more.
Ownership inscriptions, signatures and death records of various figures from different periods, including: "Date my brother was killed… Thursday, 7th Av 1799" (p. 9b, in the lower part of the title page border). Other inscriptions, apparently relating to the writer or owners of the manuscript: "Passing of my father Chacham Chagai… Elul 1829", "Passing… of Chacham Zakai… Rosh Chodesh Adar 1868…", "Passing of my mother… 1868", "Zakai son of R. Chagai".
There was a Kurdistani Chacham named R. Chagai; a wondrous story is retold of the Kiddush Hashem he caused when he promised the local ruler that rain would fall in the month of Nissan in a drought year (see: Yitzchak Tz. Mizrachi, R. Chagai Sanctifies G-d's Name, in Hed HaMizrach, year II, issue X, Cheshvan 1943). This may be Chacham Chagai mentioned here, or one of his relatives.
The anthology includes many segulot and cures, protections, hashbaot and amulet texts (some with illustrations and kabbalistic diagrams). See Hebrew description for examples. It comprises a wide range of works and topics, including: text of ordination for a shochet and laws of shechitah, texts of various legal documents dated 1792; annulling a ban; the angels who rule over the various days of the week and the 12 months; various works on the laws of shechitah and terefot (mentioning on p. 36a: "…my teacher and brother R. Shmuel Barzani" – prominent rabbi in Kurdistan) and many other works (see Hebrew description).

[157] leaves (including several blank leaves). Appears to be lacking several leaves. Approx. 20 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Open tears to many leaves, affecting text. Leaves professionally restored with paper. Two detached leaves. New leather binding.

A similarly designed and ornamented manuscript, presumably by the same scribe, appears in the catalog The Jews of Kurdistan (curator: Ora Schwartz-Be'eri; Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2000) p. 211, from the Israel Museum collection (no. 180/86). There, the scribe was identified as "Meir son of Mordechai Yehuda", yet there was presumably a mistake in interpreting the calligraphic signature, and it should be read "Chagai son of the late R. Mordechai".
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, KU.011.019.

Manuscript, Taj Torah (Keter Torah – Books of the Torah), with vocalization and cantillation marks, Masorah Ketanah and Masorah Gedolah – Books of Bereshit and Shemot (until the middle of Parashat Vayakhel). [Yemen, ca. 15th/16th century].
Particularly neat script, in black ink, with color ornaments. Impressive manuscript, a typical example of the 15th and 16th century Yemenite scribal art in Taj books (see references to similar manuscripts below).
The manuscript opens with the verse "The Torah that Moses commanded us…" and the initials of the verse "My help is from G-d, the Maker of heaven and earth" (Psalms 121:2), scribed within a lattice border partially colored in red. The text on this page was scribed in hollow, calligraphic letters, filled alternately with red and an additional color (faded). Decorative hollow letters were also used in other places throughout the manuscript (for example, in the concluding lines and verse tally at the end of each Torah portion).
The verses of the Torah were scribed in square script, with vocalization and cantillation marks. Winding Peh letters in several places. The Masorah Ketanah was written at the foot of the Biblical text. The Masorah Gedolah was written in micrography in the other three margins, in zig-zag patterns. In several places, new parashiyyot are indicated with with hollow, calligraphic letters (pe or samekh), filled in with color and sometimes ornamented. The Shabbat Torah readings are indicated in a similar way (marked with the letters aleph through zayin). Fine ornaments mark the beginning and end of special Torah readings (for festivals and special days).
Rectangular tailpiece at the end of the Book of Bereshit, in a design similar to that of the title page, including the sum of verses in this book. The Song of the Sea was scribed in brickwork pattern, with red ornaments.
The Books of Bereshit and Shemot are almost complete; lacking only several leaves at the end (the manuscript ends in the middle of Parashat Vayakhel, and is lacking Parashat Pekudei), as well as one leaf in the middle of Parashat Vayechi (49:8-28). Damage to marginal text of Masorah Gedolah in several places.

[149] leaves (leaf [149] bound out of sequence, and is really a continuation of leaf [146]). 24-25 cm. Condition varies. Most leaves in good-fair condition. Stains, wear and tears. Margins of many leaves trimmed, occasionally affecting text of Masorah. Open tears to some leaves, including large open tears affecting text. Large open tears to title page and leaf [2], with significant damage to text.

For similar manuscripts see: Ms. Sassoon 330-331 (Ohel David I, p. 24), offered at auction in Sotheby's New York (Sassoon: A Golden Legacy), December 2020, lot 56 – two volumes comprising all Five Books of the Torah; and JTS Library Ms. 5594, which comprises books Vayikra-Devarim (Brumer catalog, VII, listing 1938). The JTS Library manuscript may be the second part of the present manuscript. The Sassoon manuscript was also possibly written by the same scribe.
Another similar manuscript (Bereshit and Shemot) is documented in: Benjamin Richler, The Hebrew Manuscripts in the Valmadonna Trust Library (Tel-Aviv, 1998), no. 7, pp. 9-12.
Exhibition: Reise an kein Ende der Welt – Journey to No End of the World (curator: Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek), Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna, 2001. See exhibition catalog, pp. 50-51.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, YM.011.054.