Manuscript, Otzrot Chaim, by R. Chaim Vital, handwritten by scribe R. Eliyahu son of R. Baba David. [Persia], 1737.

Oriental script. On last leaf, colophon of scribe. One other copying of Otzrot Chaim by the same scribe is known from 1743 in Golpayegan, for the famous Torah scholar Mullah Or Shraga.

At the end of Otzrot Chaim, the scribe copied an additional three studies from the Mahadura Batra of R. Chaim Vital edited by R. Yaakov Tzemach. On margins of leaves, handwritten glosses by scribe. His signature appears on one of the leaves: "Eliyahu son of David".

The present manuscript is lacking at the beginning (although most of the work is present). At the beginning is mounted a leaf in another hand, which is known to us as that of the forger Yitzchak son of Shmuel of Persia. The leaf handwritten by Yitzchak son of Shmuel contains the "secret of Gan Eden" and an unknown Ilan Sefirot illustration. In the margins of the leaf is the catchword of the following page, from the middle of Otzrot Chaim, in the handwriting of the author of the main manuscript. Apparently, the forger attempted to thereby give it the appearance of an unknown manuscript.

On leaf [3] is bound another leaf in another hand (from the manuscript of Pri Etz Chaim), apparently also concocted to give the same impression.

On the blank page on one of the first leaves appear family inscriptions, including one on the birth of a son to the scribe, and one on the death of a physician.

[119] leaves (one leaf lacking about half). Several leaves lacking at beginning and middle of manuscript. Approx. 20 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, tears and wear. Open tears affecting text of several leaves. Detached leaves. Binding detached and damaged.

Manuscript, work on Torah portions, Bereshit-Devarim, by R. Uziel son of R. Shmuel HaKohen. Urmia (now West Azerbaijan province, Iran), 1792.

Two thick volumes. Neat Oriental script. The present book is a work on all the Torah portions, the first volume on Bereshit-Shemot and the second on Vayikra-Devarim. On the margins of the pages are additions and glosses by the same writer.

At the end of the second volume are homilies for the seven haftarot of consolation and the end of the year.

Colophon of writer at end of homily for Shabbat Shuvah.

Ownership inscription at beginning of second volume.

Volume I: [237] leaves (and more blank leaves); volume II: [298] leaves (and more blank leaves). 16.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dark stains. Light wear. Several tears. Several detached leaves. Original leather bindings, somewhat damaged.

Gatherings and leaves in manuscript, sermons and eulogies, by an unknown author. [Aleppo, 19th/20th century].

Oriental script, characteristic of Aleppo, containing sermons and aggadic novellae, eulogies and figures of speech.

Inscriptions.

[26] leaves. Approx. 15-19 cm. Good condition. Detached gatherings and leaves, without binding.

Manuscript, notebook of homilies and novellae, handwritten by R. Shimon Chaim Charosh. Jerusalem, Morocco, Algeria and Gibraltar, 1870-1894.

Cursive Sephardic script. First pages decorated with colorful frame. At the beginning of the first page is an illustration of a Torah crown, inside of which is written: "Shimon Chaim Charosh". R. Shimon Chaim also signed his name at the end of some homilies, sometimes with his calligraphic signature. The manuscript contains homilies he delivered in Jerusalem in the 1870s-1880s, in Morocco and Algeria [apparently ca. 1882], in Gibraltar in 1882-1883, and in Constantine, Algeria, in 1893-1894.

The manuscript also contains novellae on Tractates Sanhedrin and Bava Metzia, and more.

For detailed contents of the manuscript, see Hebrew description .

R. Shimon Chaim Charosh (d. 1897) was a Torah scholar in the Maghrebi community in Jerusalem. A scion of the Charosh family of Marrakesh, son of R. Avraham Charosh, the first emissary of the Maghrebi community in Jerusalem. R. Shimon Chaim served as a scribe of halachic documents in Jerusalem, and like his father he traveled as an emissary to North Africa and Gibraltar in 1882-1883. He also authored a book of homilies (see next lot).

NLI Ms. 8=412 contains homilies by rabbis of the Charosh family, the ancestors of R. Shimon Chaim. This manuscript was described by Gershom Scholem, Kitvei Yad BeKabbalah, Jerusalem 1930, No. 151. At the beginning of this manuscript are inscriptions written by the rabbis of the family on the death of their respective fathers, concluding with one by R. Shimon Chaim on his father R. Avraham's passing in 1872.

[132] written leaves (some originally numbered), and more blank leaves. 19 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Open tears to several leaves, slightly affecting text. Original leather binding, decorated, with gilt inscription on front of binding: "Shimon Chaim Choresh". Binding partially repaired.