Seder me-Arvit bi-Leil Simhat Torah im Sha'ar Tefillot ma she-Omrim ba-Yom (Order of Prayers for Simhat Torah), Written, Illustrated and Illuminated by Hayyim [ben Asher Anshel of] Kittsee, Kitsee: 1746

28 folios ( 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 ^{in.; 115 x 60 mm) including 2 blanks. Manuscript on vellum, text written in Ashkenazic square Hebrew script with nikud, instructions and some text in Ashkenazic semi-cursive, in brown ink, decorated with gouache; each page enframed within a painted border of shell gold;  title page set within an architectural framework with text flanked by images of Moses and Aaron ensconced in niches, and surmounted by a roundel  in which King David plucks his harp; decorated initial word panels enframed in gold on ff.1v.,8r.,9r.,18v. and 21r; miniature depicting the removal of the Torah scroll from the ark on Simhat Torah on f.9r. Original dedication on title page erased by later owner. owner's inscription on rear paper flyleaf. Minor loss at head of f.11 not affecting text or decoration; some flaking of ink on ff. 6r., 10r., and 20. Lightly stained; some greening around gold frames. Original painted vellum, elaborately ink-tooled, defects to boards and spine; worn; edges gilt; marbled endpapers.}

Esther Segal--her inscription on rear flyleaf (This Simhat Torah belongs to the modest Esterel daughter of  Shlomo Segal- 5512 [1752], Kitsee).

Alexander Scheiber, " The Jewish Artistic School of Kittsee; Illuminated Manuscripts of Hayyim ben Asher Anshel and Moshe Zanvil Kittsee," Journal of Jewish Art (1980), vol. VII, pp. 44-49; Ernest M. Namenyi, "The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing" in Jewish Art, C. Roth, ed. (New York, 1971); Meir Ayali, The Kittsee Haggadah (1770) Written and illustrated by Hayyim son of Rabbi Asher Anshel of Kittsee, facsimile edition, Givattayim: 1987.

The eighteenth century witnessed a remarkable revival in the production of Hebrew illuminated and decorated manuscripts. This renaissance began in Vienna and gradually spread to Bohemia, Moravia and throughout Western Europe. Hayyim ben Asher Anshel began his career in Kittsee, a suburb of Pressburg, as a teacher in 1725 and was active as a copyist and illustrator there from 1741-1782. We also have reason to believe that he supplemented his income as a Sofer Stam, a writer of Torah scrolls, mezzuzot and tefillin.

Among the most commonly commissioned works were Passover Haggadot, daily blessings and other assorted small liturgical texts for use on weekdays or on the Sabbath. The present lot, created for Simhat Torah features a text that appears much less frequently among this class of manuscript. That the functionality of this volume was limited to a single day in the liturgical calendar, underscores its role not only as a liturgical text, but as a luxury item that provided a clear indication of the affluence of its owner.

It comprises the order of prayers for Simhat Torah, a joyous holiday that celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of Torah reading.  At both the morning and evening services in the synagogue, the ark is opened, and the Torah scrolls are carried around the synagogue in seven circuits, accompanied by singing and dancing. On the morning of Simhat Torah, the last section of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Genesis are read in the synagogue.  In addition, a unique prayer is recited in calling up those who have been honored with these readings; this honor was usually accorded to the elite of the community, the kind of person who might have commissioned such a unique manuscript.

Although the original patron's name has been erased from the title page, we know from an inscription on the rear flyleaf that in 1751, five years after it was first produced, this delicate and attractive volume was in the possession of Esterel bat Shlomo Segal. Given its diminutive size, it is more than likely that the work was in fact originally intended to be used by the daughter or wife of a privileged Jewish family, and while those commisioning such works were usually men, there are several examples of this manner of Jewish luxury books whose patrons were women.