Auction 92 Part 2 Rare and Important Manuscripts and Items of the Gross Family Collection
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, Mincha and Arvit prayers of weekday, Shabbat and Motza'ei Shabbat, produced by Shaul [son of] Yosef Avraham Somekh. Baghdad, 1882.
Complete, masterfully scribed and decorated, pocket-sized manuscript. Semi-cursive and square Oriental script. Decorated title pages and carpet pages, initial words and other ornaments, in various colors (gilt in several places). Every page is decorated.
The manuscript is divided into a few parts: weekday Mincha and Arvit; Mincha for Erev Shabbat; Kabbalat Shabbat, Arvit of Shabbat, the Shalom Alechem song, Eshet Chayil and Kiddush for Friday night; Mincha of Shabbat; Arvit of Motza'ei Shabbat, Havdalah and Birkat HaMazon.
Each part opens with a title page, with a carpet page on verso (apart from final part which opens with a title page only). The colorful carpet pages feature intricate geometric and foliate designs.
Verses in the outer border of the first title page. Inscription in the inner border: "Order of Mincha and Arvit for weekdays and Shabbat, and Arvit of Motza'ei Shabbat, 1882"; in the center of the title page: "1882". The other title pages and carpet pages bear similar inscriptions.
Writer's colophon on the final page: "Shaul Yosef Avraham Somekh". His name is inscribed again, in decorated characters, before Birkat HaMazon.
Picture of Menachi J. Someck mounted on p. 20b.
[62] written leaves (+ blank leaves). Approx. 10 cm. Good condition. Stains. Blemishes to paint in several places. Original leather binding, with minor blemishes.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IQ.011.012.
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.
Manuscript, Mincha and Arvit prayers for weekdays, Shabbat and the Three Festivals, including Shir HaShirim (for Mincha of Erev Shabbat), Kabbalat Shabbat and Hallel. [Baghdad], 1860.
Pocket format. Semi-cursive and square Oriental script (typical of Baghdad), with impressive colorful illustrations and ornaments.
At the beginning of the manuscript (p. 2a), inscription in square script, in which the scribe mentions his name – Yosef Avraham Shalom Abd al-Razzaq (the father of the scribe, R. Avraham Shalom Yosef Abd al-Razzaq, was a notable member of the Baghdad community, and his signature appears on documents and ketubot ca. 1815-1820).
Two decorated colophon leaves follow the Shabbat Mincha prayer, stating the year the manuscript was scribed – 1860. These pages are followed by Psalms and the prayer for the Three Festivals, including Hallel.
The manuscript is masterfully illustrated and decorated, in the spirit of Islamic manuscripts. The text is enclosed in red, green and blue rectangular frames. The colophon pages are decorated in color and gilt, with a dome-like floral ornament at the top of each page (typical of Islamic manuscripts), and the text set in a floral frame. The manuscript opens with a fine, colorful illustration of a vase brimming with flowers, within a pointed multifoil arch, also gilt (this leaf was bound upside down; it may have originally been placed at the end of the manuscript, rather than at the beginning).
[49] leaves (irregular penciled pagination). Approx. 11 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Blemishes and tears, primarily to margins and along borders framing text, affecting borders, illustrations and text. Open tears to colophon pages; some loss to gilt ornaments. The entire manuscript was professionally restored with paper. New leather binding (placed in a case).
The manuscript is documented in: Michael Epstein (editor and author), Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink, Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, Princeton 2015, p. 30.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, PS.011.011.
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.
Colorful calligraphic manuscript, piyyutim by Sephardic Torah scholars. [Turkey or the vicinity, 19th century].
Tall, narrow manuscript, in a design inspired by Islamic calligraphy. The text was written in alternating colors. Some leaves were written in a later hand.
Most of the pages are framed in an arched border. On many leaves (in earlier script), the text is arranged in various shapes, such as Hamsas, menorahs, Islamic ewers, cypresses, gateways and pointed turrets (shapes not completed in several places).
Includes piyyutim by various Sephardic authors, mostly by R. Yisrael Najara. The maqam and instructions are noted in Turkish at the beginning of some piyyutim, alongside various names – names of the authors and presumably occasionally the names of the singers who instituted the way of reciting the piyyut or its tune (most the names appear in later script). On one leaf, piyyut for Zeved HaBat and for Sheva Berachot of a wedding. On an adjacent leaf, piyyut for the dressing of a Torah scroll. Many piyyutim contain repeated successive syllables, indicating trills and the musical rhythm.
[143] leaves, including 100 written pages. Height: 18 cm; width: approx. 10 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dark stains and ink smudging in several places. Large open tears to several leaves, affecting text. New endpapers. Old leather binding, damaged.
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. 42-43.
Provenance:
1. Christie's Amsterdam, 19 December 1990, lot 446.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, EI.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.
Large manuscript volume, compendium of commentaries and sermons on the Torah and Pirkei Avot. Includes also: midrashim and tales, segulot and amulet texts, texts of legal documents and divorce documents, handwritten by R. David son of Reuven Guni. Shlaver (presumably Shalvar, North-Western Iran), [1883-1885].
Neat, semi-cursive Oriental script (typical of the Persian region). Headings and initial words in square script.
The main part of the work was written in 1883-1885. Chronogram in the preface, indicating the year 1884. At the end of the work on Pirkei Avot, colophon: "David son of Reuven, grandson of Binyamin, great-grandson of Rachamim, I began writing in Tammuz 1883, completed it in Shevat 1885…" (this colophon is followed by a quote from the Baal Shem Tov).
Later additions at the beginning and end of the manuscript: on the first leaf, title page with colorful ornaments (including birds, crowns and stars. The upper ornament is topped with a crown and crescent). Birth and death records are inscribed in the center of the page, including an inscription by the author R. David son of Reuven regarding his birth in 1849 and the birth of his son "Dada Reuven son of R. David" in Cheshvan 1875. Birth records of his grandsons, sons of Dada Reuven (in 1906-1911). A later inscription near the author's birth record: "Passed away on 28th Adar 1922". The first leaves (preceding the preface and the body of the work) contain amulet and goralot texts, with kabbalistic illustrations and diagrams, including Hamsas. On p. 2b, round chart "for a sick person to know if he will live or die".
The work is arranged in order of the Torah portions, with various texts scribed in separate columns on each page – three to eight texts per page. The work ends with: midrashim on the p+O44assing of Moshe Rabbenu, Midrash Tapuach (homily on a verse in Shir HaShirim), "The birth of the Arizal and his praises", and texts of ketubot and divorce documents. Further in the manuscript: Pirkei Avot with homilies on Tractate Avot, sermons for Shabbat and festivals, and tales ("Tale of Nitai HaArbeli" and "Tale of the horse").
On p. 3a, certificate of ordination for the shochet R. David son of Reuven of Shlaver – the writer of this manuscript – handwritten, signed and stamped by the emissary of Tiberias R. Eliyahu Adahan, shochet and bodek of Tiberias, dated Kislev 1885. Authorization of the ordination, handwritten and signed by R. Yechezkel Aharon Levi, dated Tevet 1887. Additional stamp: "Chacham Avraham son of R. Aharon – rabbi of Tafkam[?]".
Shlaver (שלאוויר), mentioned in the certificate of ordination on p. 3a as the city where the writer R. David son of Reuven Guni lived, is presumably Shalvar, North-Western Iran (close to Hamadan and Iranian Kurdistan). In his foreword, the writer writes how he devoted himself to compiling this book rather than to commerce, so as to have the merit of disseminating Torah to the public. He then lists the names of dozens of books from which the teachings in this manuscript are compiled – Midrashim and Torah commentaries, kabbalistic works and books of segulot.
[160] leaves (and several blank leaves). 34 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Tears in several places, repaired with paper. Worming (primarily to binding). Original leather binding.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, KU.011.013.