Parchment manuscript, prayers against plagues. [Italy, 18th/19th century].
Miniature format. Square script. Instructions in semi–cursive (Rashi) script.
The manuscript comprises Psalms 91, 28, 38; other verses; Pitum HaKetoret and a prayer for ceasing the plague in the merit of the Ketoret.
The final page states: "In the merit of the young man Yosef Tzemach Gavriel Donati".

[12] parchment leaves. 9 cm. Good condition. Stains. Original parchment binding, damaged.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.012.003.

Manuscript, siddur for Shacharit following the Italian rite, with kabbalistic kavanot. [Italy, 18th century].
Cursive and square Italian script. Kavanot, halachot and practices written in smaller script. Kavanot occasionally scribed in in–text "windows". Tailpiece on final page, depicting two figures. Marginal glosses (some trimmed) by other writers.
In one of the glosses, the writer mentions the kabbalist R. Yitzchak Berechiah of Fano, referring to him as his teacher.
The writer notes his name "Binyamin" at the end of the Amidah prayer. This is followed by a prayer recited during a draught in Casale.
Inscriptions in a different hand of "Benayah son of R. Michael of Moncalvo", including an inscription from 1839 regarding the miracle which happened to his son on the way to Casale.

[43] leaves. 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Wear. Tears and open tears, affecting text, repaired in part with tape. Inscriptions. New binding.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.011.005.

Manuscript, Tikkun against the evil inclination. Cento (Italy), [1859].
Decorated title page, stating that the manuscript was scribed by Avraham Rafael Servi in Cento, 1859. Binding decorated in red ink; title "Against the Evil Inclination" lettered on the front board within a diamond shape.
Includes a prayer against the evil inclination by R. Yaakov son of Yitzchak Tzahalon, a prayer in Italian, and other prayers.
Pieces of parchment with various amulets and Holy Names were pasted on the back board.
The work was published based on this manuscript in a facsimile edition, with an introduction, Afulah 2016 (enclosed).

[12] leaves. 14 cm. Good–fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Inscriptions. Old card binding, with open tears, and damage to decoration, repaired with paper (decoration restored).

Provenance:
1. Kedem Auction 22, May 2012, item 230.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.011.025.
Enclosed: Facsimile edition of the manuscript (Afula, [2016].

Manuscript, segulot, amulets and incantations. [Italy, 19th century]. Hebrew and Italian.
Neat script. Includes kabbalistic illustrations and diagrams. Hebrew and Italian, paragraph after paragraph. In Part II, the leaves are written from left to right.
Leaves [50–58] feature pentacle illustrations (based on the Key of Solomon, a Latin work from the Renaissance period).
This unique manuscript incorporates various traditions of magic, and makes use of prescriptions and amulets which originate from Christian writings. See: Alessia Bellusci, Jewish Magic in the Syncretic Renaissance, I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance, Volume 24, Number 1, Spring 2021.

[90] leaves (including 13 blank leaves). Approx. 13.5 cm. Fair–good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming, affecting text. Original, gilt–decorated leather binding, damaged.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.011.016.

"Pe'er Nesher", large poster with a hymn of praise dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte by Rabbi Moise Sabbato Beer di Pesaro. Pisa (under French occupation): Societa Letteraria, 1809. Hebrew, Italian and some Latin.
Large, impressive poster, exalting the greatness of Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French. Printed in Northern Italy during the Napoleonic occupation of the region.
The Hebrew name of the Hymn, "Pe'er Nesher", appears on the upper part of the poster, flanked on both sides by wings of a vulture, referring to the coat of arms of the house of Bonaparte. The Hebrew letter 'Shin' is raised to resemble a large crown (the arrangement of the hymn's name and the wings surrounding it is reminiscent of the flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy).
The center of the poster features a long dedication and prayer for Emperor Napoleon, and his wife, Josephine (Hebrew). Followed by a typographically intricate hymn of praise dedicated to the emperor (in Hebrew an Italian), with textual references and interpretations, arranged around the hymn, to resemble a Gemara page. The last reference suggests that the hymn was composed in Venice.
Signed in print by Rabbi Moise Sabbato Beer di Pesaro – presumably Rabbi Moise Shabtai Beer, who served as Rabbi in Rome from 1825 onwards. Rabbi Beer conferred with Pope Leo XII (1760–1829), in an effort to alleviate the hardships suffered by the Jewish community of his city, and is considered to be the first Roman Jew to have been allowed a personal meeting with the supreme pontiff; passed away in Rome in 1835 (see: Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, P. 635).
Due to his pivotal role in the emancipation of European Jewry, numerous hymns of praise and admiration were dedicated to Napoleon by Jews. The Napoleonic Code introduced to countries occupied by the French bore the spirit of the French revolution, epitomized in the motto "liberty, equality, fraternity", which significantly improved the condition of various minorities, granting them significant civil rights, which had been withheld until that point. In general, Jews held a positive attitude towards Napoleon, with some even interpreting his arrival as a symbol of the initial stages of the Messianic redemption.

55.5X72 cm. Frame: 71.5X87.5 cm. Good condition. Minor folding marks and creases. Unexamined out of frame.

Exhibitions:
• Only on paper: Six Centuries of Judaica from the Gross Family Collection, CD, 2005.
• Italia ebraica: oltre duemila anni di incontro tra la cultura italiana e l'ebraismo / сura della mostra e del libro, Natalia Berger e Daniela Di Castro. Tel Aviv, 2008.
Provenance:
• Sotheby's – Judaica auction, Tel Aviv, 19th April, 1990, lot no. 85.
• The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 121.011.001.