Printed poster, descriptions of the gravesites of tzadikim and other holy sites in Eretz Israel. Venice: Stamparia Vendramina [Giovanni Vendramin], [1647].
The poster features names and descriptions of various places in Eretz Israel, with the names of the Tzadikim buried in each place, printed in four columns.
Early pilgrims to Eretz Israel would tour the country following a set route, visiting various gravesites of Tzadikim (most of which were identified by the Arizal). The poster begins by listing the sites included in the "Hakafah Ketanah" (short tour), intended for pilgrims visiting only Safed and the area; and continues with the details of the "Hakafah Gedolah" (long tour), which includes various sites throughout the Galil; followed by the sites to be visited as part of the tour of Jerusalem.
Further details about the cities of Jerusalem, Hebron and Beit Lechem/Halhul are printed on the bottom, within three decorative frames. The name of the publisher, "Yosef Alshech", is printed beneath the frames; with the imprint in the center: Venice, 1647 (some words affected by tears).
The text of this poster was printed by emissaries of Eretz Isael throughout the 17th century, both in book format and as printed posters. A statement from the emissaries of Eretz Israel is printed on both sides of the frames at the foot of the leaf: "Upon seeing… how unfortunately, due to the length of the exile… our holy city has almost been forgotten by our brethren…" (this text appears in the first known edition of the leaf, 1626).
To the best of our knowledge, this is the sole existing exemplar of this poster.

51X37.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Tears, including many open tears, affecting text and decorative border, repaired with paper, with many handwritten and photocopy replacements of missing parts.

Reference: M. Benayahu, R. Yosef Riqueti, Asufot, II, 1988, pp. 364-371 (a picture of the present poster appears on p. 367); A. Yaari, Sheluchei Eretz Israel, Jerusalem 1951, pp. 80-81.
See also: Elisheva Carlebach, Palaces of Time, Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe (Harvard University Press, 2011). The present calendar is photographed on p. 165.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Prof. Meir Benayahu.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 088.011.040.

Order of year-round prayers following Roman rite. Venice: Bragadin, [1729]. Bound in a high-quality silver binding with the coat of arms of the Rovigo (Rovighi) family.
Paper, wood and leather; silver, repoussé, engraved and soldered, marked several times with the mark of Venice (Lion of St. Mark) and the assayer's mark of Zuanne Premuda, on both boards and spine; spiral silver wire.
Both boards bear identical decorations – rich vegetal patterns incorporating flowers and fruit, rocaille and a Rococo shell. The center of both boards is occupied by a cartouche with the coat of arms of the Rovigo family: a rampant lion holding an ear of corn in its paws, surmounted with a (human faced) crescent moon. The cartouche is topped with a large crown-like ornament. The spine is similarly decorated with vegetal patterns. A pair of (unmarked) decorated clasps.
Gilt edges, gauffered.
The book "Araldica Ebraica in Italia" documents many coats of arms depicting a rampant lion holding an ear of corn in its paws, yet the coat of arms of the Rovigo family is the only one to include a crescent. Although the coat of arms depicted in the book has a crescent at the foot of the lion (and not above it like in the present binding), one can assume that this is still the coat of arms of the Rovigo family, and that the silversmith chose to place the crescent at the top of the cartouche for aesthetic and compositional purposes.
The Rovigo family was a family of merchants who enjoyed good ties with the Dukes of Modena and Mantua in the 16th and 17th centuries; its renowned descendants include R. Avraham Rovigo (1650-1714), a leading Italian kabbalist and a close disciple of R. Moshe Zacuto (the Remez).
For an additional binding with a similar coat of arms, see: CJA, item 5137 (Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art). For other silver bindings marked by the assayer Zuanne Premuda, see: Sotheby's, 14 December 2011, lot 19; 20 December 2017, lot 17.

Binding: Height: 15.5 cm, width: 9.5 cm, depth: 3 cm. Good condition. Machzor: 276 leaves. Good-fair condition. Many stains. Minor defects. First leaves loose.

Reference: Elivo Giuditta, Araldica Ebraica in Italia, [Torino]: [Societa Italiana di Studi Araldici], 2007, p. 229.
The binding is documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 3901.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 025.001.015.

Miniature volume – siddur and calendar in Spanish, in an elaborate binding with silver ornaments.
Orden de oraciones, de mes con los ayunos del solo y congregacion y Pascuas nuevamente emendaco y añedido (order of prayers for weekdays, Shabbatot and festivals). Amsterdam: Iehuda Machabeu for Eliau y David Uziel Cardoso, 1656. Spanish.
The siddur was printed entirely in Spanish, and was intended for Marranos and members of the Spanish community in Amsterdam.
Rare edition. The siddur is not listed in the NLI catalog.
Bound with: Calendario de Ros-Hodes, fiestas y ajunos, que los Hebreos celebran cada año, con declaracion de la cauza por que las guardan y la razon por que ayunan, des el año ... 5436, hasta 5460 (calendar of Rosh Chodesh and festivals for 1676-1700). Amsterdam: Gillis Joosten Zaagman, [1675]. Spanish.
The binding is decorated on both sides with four silver cornerpieces and two silver clasps designed as pillars. Additional silver ornaments serve as hinges attaching the front and back boards to the spine.
This style of binding was prevalent in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was in use primarily in the Netherlands, for binding Bibles and prayer books. Bindings of this type were not often used for Jewish books; the known exemplars mostly originate from the Spanish and Portuguese communities in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Siddur: [2], 697, [3], 9, [9] pages. Missing final 4 leaves (pp. [10]-[17]). Calendar: 32, [2] pages. 8.5 cm. Gilt edges. Good condition. Stains (dark stains to several leaves). Wormhole in the margins of many leaves. First gathering partially detached. Leaves trimmed with minor damage to headings and page numbers at top of some pages; loss of one line on final leaf. Bookplate of L. [Léon] Gruel inside front board. Losses and minor blemishes to binding.

The binding is documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 40665.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.228 / NHB.229.

Esther scroll with color, naïve illustrations. [Germany (presumably Karlsruhe) / Alsace, late 18th century].
Ink and paint on parchment.
Esther scroll; Ashkenazic script in brown ink on three parchment membranes glued together, 9 columns of text (all, apart from the one listing the names of Haman's sons, within roundels), 30-31 lines per column. Set in a rectangular frame with alternate decorations – flowers (carnations and other flowers), branches with leaves and fruit (acorns), animals (birds and peacocks, pairs of fish – symbol of the month of Adar) and octagonal stars (typical of the Upper Rhine region).
The columns of text are set in finely framed roundels, interspersed with thirteen charming figurative illustrations, in a folk, naïve style, depicting scenes from the megillah narrative (or from the Midrash), and accompanied by captions: 1. Achashverosh and Vashti (Achashverosh is seen waving a branch at Vashti – perhaps a branch of nettle, which Vashti is likened to in the Midrash); 2. The city of Shushan (depicted as a European city with a large gate and pointed turrets); 3. An executioner brandishing a cudgel at Vashti; 4. Achashverosh and Esther; 5. Bigtan and Teresh hanging on the gallows; 6. Achashverosh handing his ring to Haman; 7. Two royal scribes sitting on each side of a table; 8. Mordechai sitting at the king's gate which is watched by a guard; 9. Mordechai in royal garb riding the king's horse; 10. Esther falling at the feet of Achashverosh, who hands her his scepter; 11. Haman holding a whip, proclaiming "Thus shall be done to the man…"; 12. Haman hanging on the gallows; 13. The ten sons of Haman hanging on five-tiered gallows. In some of the illustrations, figures from the royal court – Vashti, Achashverosh and Haman – appear dressed in the French national colors: red and blue. These colors, part of the tricolore flag adopted during the French Revolution, may allude to the scroll's provenance from the Alsace region (see below).
The roundel layout of the present scroll is somewhat uncommon in Esther scrolls, though this style can be found in 17th century scrolls scribed by the artist Shalom Italia in Amsterdam. This design is seen again in a group of three Esther scrolls made in Germany in the 18th century, known as "Statt Susonn" (each of them bears the caption "Statt Susonn" identifying the city of Shushan). One of these scrolls, held in the Gross family collection, also features figurative and naïve illustrations (this scroll was reproduced in a limited edition facsimile by Facsimile Editions, London); the second scroll from this group is held in the JTS collection in New York (S44), while the third was sold at auction in New York, 2013 (Sotheby's, 17 December 2013, lot 100A).
The artist who produced the present scroll may have been familiar with one of the abovementioned German scrolls, and there is a definite resemblance between them and the present scroll. Nevertheless, it must be noted that the present scroll is also reminiscent in its style of scrolls produced in Alsace in the 18th century, including scrolls decorated with folk and naïve illustrations. One such scroll, decorated with naïve illustrations, is held in a private collection (Paris) and was exhibited in the "Alsace Jewry" exhibition in the Israel Museum in 1991 (item 38). The exhibition catalog notes that the illustrations were inspired by the French Revolution, with Achashverosh depicted as Louis XVI and Vashti as Marie Antoinette. Like in the present scroll, the illustrations are accompanied by captions (captions are seldom found in Esther scrolls, even in those with figurative illustrations). The presumed provenance of the scroll (according to Sotheby's catalog, 1987) from Karlsruhe, close to the Rhine and the border of France, also strengthens the assumption that the present scroll was produced in the Alsace region during or close to the French revolution.
For other Esther scrolls from Alsace with roundels, see: Israel Museum, MS 182/081; Museum of Jewish History, Amsterdam, M000440. For other scrolls from Alsace, see: The Center for Jewish Art, items 23654, 23770, 39283 (France), 34758.
For another scroll with illustrations inspired by Marie Antoinette and the times, see: Offenberg, Sara, Between Queen Esther and Marie Antoinette: Courtly Influence on an Esther Scroll in the Braginsky Collection, Arts 2022 (Rene Braginsky Collection, scroll no. 7).

125X17.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and creases. Tears, including open tears to beginning of first membrane, affecting text and illustrations (several tears repaired). Damage to text and illustrations in other places throughout scroll. Third membrane differs slightly from first two membranes; yellowish tinge.

Reference:
• Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper, Les Juifs d'Alsace: Village, Tradition, Emancipation (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1991), item 38.
• Weyl, Robert and Raphael Freddy (editors), L'imagerie Juive d'Alsace, Strasbourg: Ed. Des derniers nouvelles d'Alsace [c. 1979], pp. 45-47.
• Dagmara Dudzioch, Zdobione zwoje Estery, The Decorated Esther Scrolls, Warsaw, 2019, vol. 1, pp. 38-39.
The scroll is digitized on the NLI website. It is also documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 35197.
Provenance:
1. The Collections of Mr. and Mrs. David Weintraub.
2. Sotheby's, 14 December 1987, lot 181.
3. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 081.012.027.

Parchment manuscript, siddur following the Ashkenazi rite. [Germany, ca. 13th/14th century].
Ink on thin parchment. Neat Ashkenazic script (square and semi-cursive, mostly vocalized; size of letters varies). 15 lines per page. Enlarged initial words. Three ornamental initial word panels in color: the initial word of the Hoshanot is set in a floral and foliate frame incorporating a mythological animal, on red and yellow background; the initial word of the Ashrei HaAm piyyut is enclosed in a rectangular border with a yellow and red background, with a lion alongside it (loss to illustration due to a tear); the initial word of Ha Lachma Anya is set in a round frame depicting a hunting scene (dogs chasing each other in a circle), surrounded by a rectangular frame with four mythological beasts and a rose. A rose also appears at the beginning of the Shoshanat Yaakov piyyut. Other ornaments in ink in several places. The script and illustrations are typical of Ashkenazi manuscripts of the 13th and 14th century (see for instance: Bodleian Library MS. Michael 627, and the Luzzatto Machzor – Sotheby's, October 2021).
The text of the machzor belongs to the branch of the Western Ashkenazi rite (regarding this rite, see: D. Goldschmidt, Machzor LeYamim Nora'im, introduction, p. 14).
The manuscript comprises (occasionally incomplete): Arvit for weekdays and Shabbat, Shacharit for Shabbat, order of Torah reading, verses for Motzaei Shabbat, kiddush levanah, Hatavat Chalom, prayers for Rosh Chodesh occurring on weekdays and Shabbat, mussaf for festivals, kiddush for festivals, blessings for the Esther scroll reading (including the Shoshanat Yaakov piyyut), blessings for a Brit Milah (including special blessing for the circumcision of a convert) and wedding, Yotzer for a Shabbat Brit Milah, prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Hoshanot piyyutim, piyyutim and reshuyot (texts for calling the Chatanim to the Torah) for Simchat Torah (the reshut for the Chatan Torah mentions the name Shmuel son of David, while the reshut for the Chatan Bereshit mentions Moshe son of Shmuel [presumably son of the aforementioned Shmuel], the owners of the manuscript), Birkat Kohanim, order of Passover (incomplete; ends in the middle of the Haggadah).
The manuscript is lacking the beginning (until the end of the weekday Shacharit prayer) and the end (from the middle of the Passover Haggadah). Also lacking a few leaves in several places in the middle.
Marginal glosses on several pages (mostly trimmed).

[110] thin parchment leaves (one leaf bound out of sequence). Approx. 16 cm. 15 lines per page. Good-fair condition. Stains (including dark stains; significant stains to several pages). Open tears (some large), affecting text in several places, repaired. Several leaves with natural holes to parchment. Stitched tear to one leaf. Marginal glosses trimmed in several places. All leaves professionally restored (coated with tissue paper). New leather binding (placed in a clamshell box).

Reference and exhibition:
• Geschichten von Gegenständen: Judaika aus dem Beziehungsraum der Hohenemser Juden, the Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv. Jüdisches Museum Hohenems, Hohenems, 1994; Catalog edited by Eva Grabherr, pp. 164-167.
• Index of Jewish Art, Gross Family Collection, Jerusalem, Centre of Jewish Art, 1985, Part One, Volume Two: Manuscripts and Printed Books, pp. 521-535.
Provenance:
1. Sotheby's New York, 6-7 December 1984, lot 169.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, GR.012.002.
Special thanks to Prof. Sara Offenberg, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for her report.