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Hamisha Humshei Torah with Mahberet ha-Tijan (Hebrew Bible, Pentateuch, with Masorah and Masoretic and Grammatical Introduction) Scribe: Benayah ben Saadyah ben Zechariah, Yemen: 1469-70
Description
- Ink, Paper, Leather
Provenance
(2) Mahfud ben Daud el-Dehbani, who in 1867 mortgaged the manuscript to Suleiman ben Joseph al-Meshraki (note on p. 1).
(3) David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), his MS. 942, perhaps part of the cache of Yemenite manuscripts purchased in Yemen in 1911.
(4) Sold, in our London rooms, "Seventy-six Important Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts from the library of the late David Solomon Sassoon, Sold by Order of the Trustees" June 21, 1994, lot 52, to present owner.
Literature
Catalogue Note
Benayah has long been acknowledged as the greatest scribe of Yemenite Jewry and as patriarch of an entire family of Yemenite scribes which flourished beginning in the latter half of the 15th century, in and around the capital, San'a. In addition to Benaya himself, at least four of his children (three sons and a daughter) and two of his grandsons followed in his footsteps and penned Hebrew manuscripts. According to Yemenite tradition, the Benayah family is said to have copied some 400 volumes. Many of them are unilingual Pentateuchs (Tijan), which include the large and small masorah in the margins and Mahberet ha-Tijan, which deals with matters affecting the traditional reading of the scriptural text and with grammar. Sadly, of the total scribal output attributed to the Benayah family, only 36 books, less than ten percent, have survived; only a mere thirteen volumes remain from the prolific production of Benayah himself. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the few surviving manuscripts of the scribe Benayah and his family remain so highly prized.
The books copied by Benayah and members of his family, particularly the Scriptures, are noted for accuracy and beauty, and for very good reason. The apparatus on p. 643 ends with the statement that the present work is “completely according to the arrangement of the book which was in Egypt, which was edited by Ben Asher….” The reference is of course to the work known as the Aleppo Codex, universally recognized since the time of Maimonides as the most accurate recension of the Hebrew Bible. The statement mirrors the words of Maimonides in his Hilkhot Sefer Torah. Maimonides had indeed personally examined "the book which was in Egypt, which was edited by Ben Asher;" Benayah's confident assertion was based on his having meticulously adhered to the rules set forth by Maimonides. Scholars have subsequently established that there are nevertheless minor differences between the present manuscript and the Aleppo Codex. Thus, for example, while the text of Ha'azinu in the present lot comprises 67 lines, as in the Aleppo Codex and as in authentic manuscripts of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, the division of the lines in Deuteronomy 32:25 proves that Benayah, while adhering to Maimonides' instructions (dividing at the word gam), could not have seen the Aleppo Codex itself (which divides at the other instance of the word gam in the same verse.)
The present manuscript is signed and dated on p.643; the poem on p.644 is also dated 1469-70.
TEXT
p. 1: Ownership notes
pp.2-3: Two full-page micrographic carpet pages on pp.2-3 with biblical verses and masoretic rubrics in micrographic script. In Yemen, Hebrew micrography reached its zenith in the fifteenth century. Marginal masorah in Yemen was simple and geometric, and closely knit parallel lines, zigzags, and diagonals were popular designs. The textual material of Yemenite carpet pages was often biblical, though in the present manuscript, Masoretic notes are also included.
pp.4-76: Mahberet ha- Tijan (Masoretic and Grammatical Introduction to the Bible). The version presented here is includes significant additional material not recorded by Derenbourg.
p. 77: Blank
pp. 78-642: Biblical text with Masoretic notes; Genesis, pp.78-220; Exodus, pp.220-340; Leviticus, pp. 340-425; Numbers, pp. 425-542; Deuteronomy, pp. 543-642. (The Masorah Magna appears at the upper and lower margins of each page as well as in the outer margin, where it is decoratively arranged in zig-zag patterns and sometimes in repeating triangles. The Masorah Parva is situated at the outer margin between the Masorah Magna and biblical text itself)
p. 643: Masoretic apparatus and scribal colophon. Between the apparatus and the colophon, Benayah has proclaimed the manuscript’s textual accuracy and masoretic fidelity, by virtue of its having been written in complete accord with the Aleppo Codex,
p. 644 Poem, Emunah Yotzrah (this poem has been attributed by some scholars to Benayah.)