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.

Manuscript, Menorat HaMaor by R. Yitzchak Aboab, with the Nefesh Yehuda commentary by R. Moshe son of R. Shimon of Frankfurt and the Chok LeYaakov commentary by R. Saadia al-Qati'i, copied and edited by the scribe R. Avraham al-Hazi. Sanaa, [1826-1827].
Complete manuscript. Yemenite script, in a fine layout. Illustrations and ornaments in red and black ink throughout the manuscript. Title page set in floral border topped by a pair of birds. LaMenatze'ach Menorah on page facing title page (additional menorah in the preface to Nefesh Yehuda, on the verso of the title page; and sketch of a menorah on the first leaf of the manuscript). Initial words and headings decorated with red ink.
The title page states that the manuscript was scribed in Sanaa in 1826. On the second leaf, lengthy foreword by the scribe, entitled: "Foreword to the commentary of R. Saadia son of Shalom al-Qati'i", signed: "I, the scribe… Avraham son of Avraham son of R. David". In his foreword, the scribe states that this work was entitled Chok LeYaakov by the compiler.
Additional signature of the scribe on p. 98a: "Avraham son of Avraham son of R. David al-Hazi". Colophon at the end of the manuscript, with his calligraphic signature: "The work was completed on Thursday, Rosh Chodesh Adar II 1827…".
Two columns per page. Nefesh Yehuda commentary mostly scribed in smaller characters at the foot of the page. R. Saadia al-Qati'i's commentary is incorporated in "windows" within the columns. The scribe added his comments in several places, opening with: "Says the writer".
Chok LeYaakov by the kabbalist R. Saadia Qati'i (al-Qati'i), who lived in the generation preceding the Maharitz, was passed down in Yemen from generation to generation in manuscripts, and was only first published in 2013 by Adam Ben-Nun. The present manuscript is one of the earliest complete manuscripts of the work, and was used as a basis for the printed edition. The scribe R. Avraham son of Avraham Hazi edited R. Saadia's work, expanded upon it and added sources and selections (see introduction to the aforementioned edition). The scribe describes his work at length in his foreword.
The scribe, Mori Avraham son of Avraham Hazi (al-Hazi), was a Torah scholar and scribe in Sanaa in the 19th century. He authored two books: Zivchei Tzedek – commentary to Shaarei Kedushah by the Maharitz, and Or HaChaim – addition and commentary to the Etz Chaim siddur compiled by the Maharitz. He reputedly copied the book Mikdash Melech on the Zohar, in Sanaa 1825, stating in the colophon that he was 18 years of age. If so, the present manuscript was scribed when he was 19-20 years old (see: Gavra, Encyclopedia L'Chachmei Teiman, I, pp. 127-128; and introduction to the aforementioned edition of Menorat HaMaor).
Menorat HaMaor was particularly well accepted amongst Yemenite Jewry, who referred to it as "Menorah". Yemenite Jews would read it every Shabbat and festival in the synagogue, before the recital of Aleinu LeShabe'ach. The Maharitz writes about this custom (in his Tiklal siddur), and the custom is preserved until this day in the Yemenite community.

165 leaves. 21 cm. Good condition. Stains, including large dampstains and dark stains. Mold stains to several leaves. Minor worming to a few leaves at beginning of manuscript, slightly affecting text. Paper repairs in several places. New binding.

Exhibitions:
• Jüdische Lebenswelten, Berlin, 1991. See exhibition catalog, pp. 241-242.
• Kabbalah – Om judisk mysticism (curator: Erika Aronowitsch), Stockholm Jewish Museum, April-December 2002. See exhibition catalog, p. 60.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, YM.011.020.

Manuscript, "Order of prayers for all festivals", Azharot for Shavuot, prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and Torah reading for special days, scribed by R. Shalom Korach. Sanaa, [1938].
Impressive volume. Masterfully scribed in Yemenite script, on wide-margined, high-quality paper; with colorful ornaments and illustrations. Decorated title pages, initial words, headings and colophons – all in vivid shades of red, orange, green and purple. Illustration of trees and birds in haftarah for second day of Shavuot. Placed in an elegant box binding, with fine silver clasps and ornaments, some gilt.
The manuscript was scribed and decorated by R. Shalom Korach (prominent Yemenite rabbi) for R. Yichye Badichi. The title page states: "Order of prayers for all festivals – commissioned by… R. Yichye son of Suleiman son of R. Yosef son of Shalom Albidichi; scribed by… Shalom son of R. Yichye son of R. Chaim son of R. Yosef – written here Sanaa, Yemen, 1938". At the end of the Azharot, colophon marking the end of the writing, dated 3rd Sivan 1938.
Decorated title pages before the Azharot, and before the Torah readings (stating the place and date of writing – Sanaa, Yemen, 1938).
In several places, the writer added marginal glosses, relating to his efforts to write the precise text of the prayers and piyyutim.
The Torah readings include cantillation marks, and many marginal notes clarifying the accurate text of the Bible and Targum, with mention of other versions.
Colophon of final page (p. 135b) by the scribe R. Shalom Korach, dated Thursday, 4th Elul 1938.
The scribe, R. Shalom Korach (1873 – Cheshvan 1952), prominent Yemenite rabbi, and leader of the Sanaa community. He was a teacher and educator, who edified many disciples. He authored many works (Midrash Ashrei, Ginzei Chochmah, Derech HaChachamim, Divrei Shalom, and more). "The books he copied stand out for their great accuracy and splendor. He was an expert scribe with a flair for beauty and colorfully ornamented his books" (Encyclopedia L'Chachmei Teiman, I, p. 566).

[135] leaves (and many blank leaves at beginning and end of volume). 24.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Original box binding, with silver ornaments. Minor blemishes to spine.

A decorated manuscript of Pirkei Avot with commentary of the Rambam, scribed by R. Shalom Korach, was sold at Kedem, Auction 49, Part I, lot 137.
The binding is documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 339308.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, YM.011.002.

Manuscript, Otzrot Chaim, teachings of the Arizal as recorded by R. Chaim Vital – Maghrebi redaction, with unpublished glosses by Moroccan kabbalists. Marrakesh (Morocco), [1752].
Title page illustrated and decorated in color (a horseshoe arch, with floral and geometric designs, typical of Moroccan architecture). Neat Sephardic-Maghrebi script, with many marginal glosses by various writers. The title page states the name of the scribe – R. Aharon son of R. Avraham Corcos. Colophon on p. 234b, dated Thursday 5th Sivan 1752 (Erev Shavuot), with the scribe's calligraphic signature.
In-text "windows" with glosses by Moroccan kabbalists. The manuscript also features many marginal glosses by various writers. Several leaves at the end of the manuscript with additional glosses by various writers. Some of these are copyings of glosses by R. Avraham Azulai, R. Avraham ibn Mussa and other Moroccan kabbalists (see below).
The book Otzrot Chaim was edited by R. Yaakov Tzemach, and it comprises Seder HaAtzilut as R. Chaim Vital received it from his teacher the Arizal. Since the book does not include the complete Seder HaAtzilut, it was rearranged by the Moroccan kabbalists, who added several chapters from Mevo She'arim. The present manuscript is a Maghrebi redaction of this work – a combination of Otzrot Chaim with parts of Mevo She'arim. This version is only found in manuscripts copied in North Africa, and it was first printed in Livorno in 1849.
The present manuscript contains glosses by leading 18th century Moroccan kabbalists – R. Avraham Azulai (d. 1741), a teacher of R. Shalom Buzaglo author of Mikdash Melech on the Zohar; and R. Avraham ibn Mussa (d. 1733), disciple of R. Yaakov Marrache. Their glosses are signed for the most part with the initials "A.A." [Avraham Azulai] and "A.B.M" [Avraham ben Mussa]. Some of the glosses were copied by the scribe in "windows" within the text, while some were added later in the margins and in the leaves at the end of the book, in a different hand (presumably copied from a different source). On one of the final leaves, there is a page with the heading: "New, recently added glosses by R. A.A.".
The Chida (in Shem HaGedolim) relates that R. Avraham ibn Mussa would debate on kabbalistic topics with R. Avraham Azulai of Marrakech; and seems to indicate that the disagreement between them was apparent in their glosses. Some of their glosses were printed in the Livorno edition, however, the printed glosses do not reveal any dispute between the two luminaries. Conversely, there is a booklet in the Meir Benayahu Collection containing copyings of the glosses of R. Avraham Azulai and of R. Avraham ibn Mussa, as an independent work (rather than in the margins of Otzrot Chaim). In this booklet, which contains glosses which were not printed in the Livorno edition, disagreements and disputes between the two kabbalists are indeed apparent (see: M. Benayahu, R. Avraham Ibn Mussa et son fils R. Moshé – deux grands kabbalistes lurianiques de l'Afrique du Nord, in Michael 5, Tel Aviv 1978, pp. 22-24). Some of these glosses were printed before the 1844 Livorno edition as an independent section within the book Mekom Binah, Salonika 1813, however, there too, the glosses were not printed in their entirety.
The present manuscript also includes glosses in the name of other kabbalists, such as R. Yaakov Pinto (sometimes referred to as "the Rif") and R. Avraham son of R. Yaakov Pinto.
Additionally, the manuscript includes dozens of glosses by R. Yosef Alcasoli, most of them signed with his initials "Yoel". The final leaves contain additional glosses from him, three of them signed with his full name: "Yosef Alcasoli", "Yosef son of R. Yehuda Alcasoli". These glosses were written in two different hands, one neat and organized, and the second unskilled; it is possible that one of them was written by R. Alcosili himself.
We have no information about the kabbalist R. Yosef son of R. Yehuda Alcasoli. He was presumably a kabbalist in Marrakesh; perhaps this is the dayan "R. Y. Alcasoli" mentioned in a responsum by R. Avraham Coriat, in Responsa Zechut Avot, section 20 (R. Avraham Coriat of Tétouan, d. Cheshvan 1805; it appears from the responsum that the R. Alcasoli he mentions was from the previous generation).
To the best of our knowledge, the glosses by R. Yosef Alcasoli found in the present manuscript were never published, and they presumably do not appear in any other manuscript of the book Otzrot Chaim. Some of the glosses by other Moroccan kabbalists were also presumably never published.
On p. 135a, stamp of Rabbi Chaim David Serero Rabbi of Fez.

[1], 234; [5] leaves. 21.5 cm. Condition varies. Most leaves in good condition, several leaves in fair-poor condition. Stains and wear. Tears and worming. Large open tears and blemishes to leaves 157-233, due to ink erosion, affecting text. New binding, incorporating parts of original binding.

Reference: Shalom Sabar, Sephardi Elements in North African Hebrew Manuscript Decoration, in: Jewish Art, vol. 18 (1992), pp. 168-191.
Exhibition: Yeshiva University Museum, New York, "The Sephardic Journey: 1492-1992", 1990-1992. See exhibition catalog, p. 296, no. 398.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, MO.011.017.

Manuscript, Sefer HaKavanot (Shaar HaKavanot), Part II, prayers for Shabbat, festivals and Rosh Chodesh – by R. Chaim Vital, from the teachings of his teacher the Arizal – written by R. Yehuda Djian, with glosses and additions by various kabbalists. Tlemcen, ca. 1790s-1810s.
Decorated title page. Fine, wide-margined copy, in neat semi-cursive Western script, with headings and initial words in square script. Ornaments on several leaves.
In-text "windows" with glosses by R. Chaim Vital and his son R. Shmuel Vital, pertaining to the words of the Arizal.
Dozens of profound marginal glosses in cursive script; many of them are copyings of glosses by R. Shmuel Vital (introduced with: "Am.Sh." = Amar Shmuel). These glosses were copied from a different manuscript, which was presumably not available to the copyist of the main manuscript. One gloss contains a copying "from an old Sefer HaKavanot" (p. 150b). Some of the glosses are signed "A.Y.N", possibly the initials of R. Yosef Abulkhair (see below). Three pages were added at the end of the manuscript (presumably by the writer of the aforementioned glosses), with a copying of glosses from an old Sefer HaKavanot of R. Yaakov Pinto. At the end of the last page of these glosses, a gloss signed: "Says Yosef Abulkhair…". This is followed by a page with another copying: "I found written in the name of the kabbalist R. Sh. Shamama".
On the decorated title page, the writer states: "I copied it upon the wish of the Torah scholar and dayan, R. Yitzchak Abulkhair, I, the copyist, Yehuda son of R. Natan Djian, in Tlemcen". [The center of the title page was left blank by the scribe, and an inscription in a different, later hand was added, containing the writer's prayer and date of the completion of the manuscript in Shevat 1744 (both false)].
The manuscript was written by R. Yehuda Djian, son of R. Natan Djian rabbi of Tlemcen, Algeria in 1790s-1820s (see: Malchei Yeshurun, p. 88), for his father's friend R. Yitzchak Abulkhair, rabbi of Algiers at that time.
R. Yitzchak son of Yosef Abulkhair (Aboulker), rabbi of Algiers in 1790s-1810s, was executed by the authorities in 1815 – see: A. Morgenstern, The Return to Jerusalem (Hebrew), Jerusalem 2007, pp. 264-265. The Abulkhair family was an old, prestigious Algerian family. One of patriarchs of the family, R. Abu'l-Khayr Taherti from Tahert (Tiaret), lived at the end of the Geonim period; see Tzion, 27, 1962, pp. 156-157 (Malchei Yeshurun, pp. 19-20).
On the page preceding the title page, interesting inscription dated 1891, handwritten and signed by the emissary R. Shmuel Karkus of Jerusalem: "This book was brought by R. Shmuel Abulkhair from Algiers, and he settled in Jerusalem where he lived for two years before he passed away. His wife then sold his books, and G-d granted me this book of his… 17th Shevat 1891, Shmuel Karkus". R. Karkus's stamp appears above the inscription. R. Shmuel Abulkhair (son of R. Yosef son of R. Shmuel), leading rabbi of Algiers in the late 19th century, immigrated to Jerusalem ca. 1888, and passed away in 1890 (see: Malchei Yeshurun, pp. 20-21).

[3], 1-109, 150-159, [6] leaves (one leaf at beginning and three leaves at end – blank). 24 cm. High-quality paper. Wide margins. Good-fair condition. Stains. Worming to several leaves (some repaired). New leather binding.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, AL.011.003.