Auction 98 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Books Printed in Jerusalem, Letters and Manuscripts, Jewish Ceremonial Art
![Manuscript, goralot (lots), letters in Yiddish. [Central Europe], 1766. Cursive Ashkenazi script. The first five leaves conta](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/276_1.jpg "Manuscript, Goralot and Letters in Yiddish – Central Europe, 1766")
![Manuscript, goralot (lots), letters in Yiddish. [Central Europe], 1766. Cursive Ashkenazi script. The first five leaves conta](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale98/276_2.jpg "Manuscript, Goralot and Letters in Yiddish – Central Europe, 1766")
Manuscript, goralot (lots), letters in Yiddish. [Central Europe], 1766. Cursive Ashkenazi script.
The first five leaves contain goralot (attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon). On leaf 5a, the scribe's colophon: "The book of goralot is concluded... on the day when 'it was good' was said twice, 6 Tishrei 1766, I am the scribe Jacob son of R.S.S." (written continuously, with double use of the letter bet), with his signature: "Jacob son of---".
The last four leaves contain fourteen copies of letters in Western Yiddish, exchanged between a father and son and a groom and his bride, concerning business and family matters. The letters were originally sent in 1764 – one letter was sent from Pest, Hungary, and another from Prague.
[8] leaves. Several leaves missing at the beginning and end. Approx. 19 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains and dark stains. Wear and tears. Detached leaves. Without binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Manuscript, Mishneh Torah by the Rambam – Laws of Shechita, with a commentary compiled from Rishonim and Acharonim, by an unknown author. [Yemen, ca. 19th century].
Yemenite script. The text of the Rambam's work is written in the center of the pages, surrounded by the commentary (in smaller letters).
The present work is found in several Yemenite manuscripts (such as MS. Oxford 2658, Bar-Ilan MS. 235, Schocken Institute MS. 2070, Tobi MS. 103), and is imbued with much material from the teachings of Ashkenazi sages. The work includes extensive excerpts from the writings of the Rishonim, such as the Ba'al HaTurim, Agur, Mordechai, Kol Bo, and others.
Among other things, it preserves passages from an unknown commentary on Tractate Chulin by "Rabbi Dosa", sometimes called "Ner Yisrael", as well as novellae in the name of "Rabbi Moshe Pleyer".
Rabbi Moshe Pleyer (also mentioned in other sources as Moshe Puler, Moshe Polia, Moshe MiPol and Moshe MiPolin) was a Polish Torah scholar of the 14th century (see: Israel M. Ta-Shma, New Material for the History of the Jews in Poland, Zion, 53, 1988, pp. 359-361 Hebrew]). To the best of our knowledge, his novellae on the laws of shechita are preserved – aside from the work before us – only in one manuscript – Paris MS. H 166 A, written by Rabbi Binyamin Mutal in 1587. The present Yemenite work is therefore one of the few sources in which his teachings were preserved.
The glosses from the "Commentary on Chulin by Rabbi Dosa", which appear here many times (leaves 3a, 5b, 6a-b, 7a-b, 10b, 11a-b, 12a, 16b, 41a, 42a), are known to be extant only in the present work. Regarding the identity of Rabbi Dosa, opinions are divided – according to Prof. Joseph Tobi, it refers to Rav Dosa son of Rav Saadiah Gaon (Joseph Tobi, Yemenite Jewish Manuscripts in the Ben-Zvi Institute, MS. 121, pp. 62-63 (Hebrew); on Rav Dosa son of Rav Saadiah Gaon, see: Poznański, Rav Dosa Gaon, Bardychów, 1906), while Prof. Israel Ta-Shma argued that it refers to Greek Rabbi Dosa (Rav Dossa HaYevani), also from the 14th century, a Torah scholar born and raised in Vidin, Bulgaria (see below), who studied under the great Torah scholars of Ashkenaz – the Maharash and Rabbi Shalom of Neustadt, teachers of the Maharil (from Rabbi Dosa the Greek a commentary on the Torah is known, printed by Prof. Shlomo Spitzer, at the end of the work Hilchot UMinhagei Rabbenu Shalom MiNeustadt, Jerusalem 1997; for more about him, see introduction there).
The present also contains teachings of later Torah scholars (up to the early 18th century, an indication to the time of compilation, see: Tobi, ibid.). The compiler also added from the teachings of Yemenite sages, such as Rabbi Shalom Shabazi (leaf 51a), Rabbi Yitzchak Vana (44b), and R. David ibn Yahya (leaf 35).
It includes several notes the compiler, such as in leaf 30b: "And I found a handwritten [note] by the Rabbi Abraham ben Abraham Z"L..."; on leaf 36a: "And this I found in a handwritten volume..."
Prof. Ta-Shma associates this work with the work of Rabbi Binyamin Mutal in the aforementioned Paris MS. (see: Ta-Shma, New Material for the History of the Jews in Poland, Zion, 54, [1989], pp. 205-208) and further argued that the aforementioned novellae of Rabbi Pleyer were preserved within the commentary on Chulin by Rabbi Dosa. In fact, the Yemenite work and the work of Rabbi Binyamin Muttal are not identical, and Ta-Shma's conjectures require further examination.
At the beginning of the manuscript, appears a fragment of a page with the beginning of a similar commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, Laws of Shechita (incomplete), an additional inscription of a fragment on the laws of Treifot – in the front endpaper.
61 leaves. 24 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Some wear and tears. Worming, with minor damage to text. Old leather binding, damaged.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Manuscript, Keter Malchut, by R. Shlomo ibn Gabirol, handwritten by Avraham Refael Servi. Cento (Italy), Elul 1859.
Booklet in neat, vocalized handwriting. Decorated cardboard binding, illustrated and with mounted paper strips (colored green, black and white). On the front of the binding is an illustration of a Star of David and a goblet-like illustration. On back binding, scribe's colophon, with location and date of writing: "My book, Avraham Refael Servi, which I wrote in the month of Elul, 1859, in Cento".
[25] leaves. 15 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, tears and damage to binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further
information, please refer to the Hebrew text.
Manuscript, prayers for cantor and gabbai, with "Yizkor" lists – names of deceased community members. [England and St. Kilda (suburb of Melbourne), Australia], 1740s-1840s.
Composed of two manuscripts bound together: The earlier one was apparently written in England in 1836 (based on the calendars, see below), and contains prayers for the cantor and gabbai – order of Torah reading and Haftarah, text of "Mi Sheberach", prayer for "HaNoten Teshu'ah" in honor of William IV – King of the United Kingdom, and his wife Queen Adelaide, text of "Hazkarat Neshamot" including the list of rabbis of London and the United Kingdom, order of shofar blowing, blessings for the Megillah, Kiddush for the three festivals, as well as calendars for the years 1836-1839. At its beginning – laws of Torah reading.
The above manuscript was bound inside a notebook from a later period, with additional prayers, and with lists of deceased from the St. Kilda community, from the second half of the 19th century. At the beginning of the notebook (on its left side), a dedication inscription to the St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation, dated to 1873 (English).
[36] leaves. Approx. 22-24 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Browning to paper in the older manuscript, with tears from ink corrosion and minor damage to text. Original binding, partially detached and blemished.
PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.