Seder Hoshanot (Order of Hoshanot), Mantua: 1778, Scribe: Jehiel Menahem ben Abraham Urbino

20 leaves (10 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.; 274 x 240 mm). Written and decorated in brown ink on thick heavy paper; text in square vocalized Hebrew script, instructions and title page unvocalized; blind ruled in hardpoint; modern foliation in pencil beginning after title page. Illustrated title page: title set within architectural frame flanked by Moses and Aaron atop pedestal bases; below and between, a scribal inscription within a cartouche with floral tendrils; surmounting the whole, a frieze depicting the Water Libation ceremony. Scribal flourishes on numerous letters; decorative tailpieces, ff. 5v, 19r, the latter showing traces of illumination. Later liturgical notations added, in ink, f. 6r; in pencil ff. 9v-10r, 18v-19r. Some dampstainining and soiling. Early tape repair at gutter, f. 6v-7r. Edges stained red. Contemporary brown leather.



 

Hoshanot is the name of a worship service which is recited on each of the seven days of the Sukkot holiday, usually between the Shaharit and Musaf prayers. Hoshanot are so named because of the recurrent expression Hoshana (lit. "Save [us], I pray!") During the recitation of Hoshanot, the worshippers proceed in a circuit around the bimah in the center of the synagogue.  The origin of both the prayer and the procession lies in the Temple ritual described in the Talmud: "Every day [of Sukkot] one circles the altar once and says, 'Pray! O Lord, save, I pray! Pray! O Lord, give success, I pray!'" The hoshanot of the seventh day, Hoshana Rabba, are of a special character. Seven processions take place; in some rites the hoshanot of all the previous days are repeated while others recite hoshanot written specially for this day as in the present manuscript.

The present manuscript contains: "The order of Hoshanot for all the days of Sukkot as well as for Hoshana Rabba according to the tradition of the Ashkenazic community...here in Mantua: 1778."