Liturgical poems from the Cairo Genizah, first half of the 11th century

2 leaves (5 3/4- 6 1/4 x 7 in.; 145-160 x 180 mm). One parchment bifolium comprising 4 pages written in Hebrew in brown ink on parchment in Oriental square Hebrew characters; 19-21 unruled lines per page. Housed in mylar within a modern blind-tooled brown diced-calf portfolio over heavy boards. 

The liturgical poems (piyyutim) in this fragment from the Cairo Genizah are for a kedushta for Yom Kippur. Though some of the piyyutim in these pages may be found in other genizah manuscripts, at least five are unrecorded in any source. Among the poems found in these leaves are piyyutim by, or attributed to, Eleazar Kalir and Yose ben Yose. The discovery of the Genizah in the closing years of the nineteenth century brought to light many previously unknown liturgical poems. The present manuscript was unknown to Schirmann or Fleisher.

Sotheby's would like to thank Dr. Benjamin Richler for providing information which aided in the cataloging of this lot. His report, which includes a comprehensive list of the piyyutim, is available upon request.