Lot 95
  • 95

Selihot for the Entire Year, according to the Ashkenazic Rite, ca. 1280-1350

Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
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Description

  • Parchment
128 leaves (13 ½ x 10 ¼ inches; 343 x 260 mm). collation: 12,2-148, 158, 167, 176, 181=128 leaves. foliation: [ii], 1-126= 128 leaves. Manuscript on parchment pricked and ruled, 22 lines, written in black ink in Ashkenazic square Hebrew script. Catchwords decorated with pen and ink drawings (fol. [ii] v, 40v, 88v, 96v, 104v), fol. 25v: decorated initial word, name Yehudah highlighted on f. 12r and three times on f. 83r; modern foliation in pencil; leaf cut out after fol. 114m, knife cuts throughout touching text, approximately 33 leaves cropped at fore-edge or bottom margin and costing text of shoulder note on fol. 125, fol. 100 partially clipped on bottom margin, fol. 126 cropped and frayed, fols. 122-125 severely stained; ex-library stamp ff. (i)r, 1r, 125v; marginal soiling, some scattered spotting throughout. Modern three quarter black morocco over cloth covered boards.

Catalogue Note

The present manuscript, formerly held in the fabled collection of Moses Montefiore, is an exceedingly important witness to the long established tradition of penitential prayers as practiced in the communities of the Jews of Ashkenaz. It comprises more than 160 selihot, many of which have never been printed, including more than a few which remain unrecorded in any other source.

The initial word on f. 25v is decorated in black ink in typical Ashkenazic fashion. Most of the catchwords at the end of quires are decorated with drolleries, including various lions, dogs, horses, and human figures. Among the more fanciful images are a centaur shooting arrows (fol. ii verso), a jester (fol. 104v) and a two-headed lion (fol. 16v). This last example is closely accompanied the name Yehuda Hayyim ben Meir, perhaps an owner who added the decorations to the catchwords, and pointed out his name, Yehuda on f. 12r and three times on f. 83r.

The selihot are numbered, and in its present state, the manuscript now includes nos. 46-47, end of 58, 59, 62-210. Additional selihot, called tahanunim, are numbered 1-16. A later hand has added additional numbers to certain selihot, likely in correspondence to another manuscript. On ff. 69r, 76v and 99r specific melodies are indicated. On a few pages there are additions or marginal notes, including a commentary to the Aramaic prayer Ta shema (fol. 125v) and on the final leaf (fol. 126), another, now faded, hand supplies a table indicating which selihot to be recited on Yom Kippur, fastdays, certain Mondays and Thursdays, etc.

The name Yaakov is pointed out on ff. 12r, 27r and 117r, and is likely the name of the scribe. Owner's inscriptions on f. i recto include: Feivel Katz, the heirs of Samuel Heilprun, Seligmann of Cittadella (Italy) and some now-illegible names, among them perhaps, Yekutiel Kohen and on f. 16v, the aforementioned Yehuda Hayyim ben Meir.

This manuscript that has survived for seven centuries, though not unscathed, retains its beauty. The script remains elegant, the black ink has not faded and the letters and vocalizations (nikkud) are still crystal clear. As Benjamin Richler has noted: “This is an important early example of the Ashkenazic rite liturgy and in some instances, a rare, and perhaps unique, surviving copy of many selihot."

Provenance: Feivel Katz; Heirs of Samuel Heilprun; Seligmann of Cittadella; Yekutiel Kohen [?]; Yehuda Hayyim ben Meir; Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 392); Moses Montefiore, (Hirschfeld ms. no. 241)