Seder Birkat hamazon... Birkat ha-Nehenin... ve-Shalosh Mitzvot... (Order of Grace after Meals... Occasional Blessings... and Three Commandments for Women... ), Scribe: [Meshullam Zimmel ben Moses of Polna], Central Europe, 1721

Schöne Seiten: Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection. Emile Schrijver and Falk Wiesemann eds. (Zurich: 2011), pp.96-101;

From Court Jews to the Rothschilds. Art, patronage, and power 1600-1800 . V.B. Mann & R.I. Cohen, eds. (New York:1996), p. 169;

Ernest Namenyi, "The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing", in: C. Roth, ed., Jewish Art (London: 1971), pp. 149-162;

Judische Buchkunst 2, Ursula Schubert, ed. (Graz:1993), p. 86-87.

AN EXQUISITE, MINIATURE, WOMAN'S PRAYERBOOK

A new phase in the development of decorated Hebrew manuscripts emerged in the 18^th century in Germany and Central Europe, when wealthy Court Jews commissioned handwritten and painted books as luxury items. Though initially, Vienna was the main center of this flowering of manuscript decoration, the practice soon spread to other cities as well. Among the most noted of the scribe/artists of the period was Meshulam Zimmel ben Moses of Polna, creator of this manuscript, who worked mostly in Vienna.

That the present manuscript was created especially for use by a woman is evident from the title page, as well as from the texts themselves and the predominance of female figures in the accompanying artistic illustrations. Perhaps the most interesting illustration is on f.6r which depicts three well-dressed women, at their leisure, enjoying a game of cards. Other more traditional illustrations, again, featuring only women, accompany the texts appended to the three ritual commandments specifically reserved for them, chalah, niddah, hadlakah.

COMPLETE PROGRAM OF ILLUSTRATION:

1.     Moses and Aaron, each atop a pedestal flanking title text, with decorative floral elements above and below (f. 1r);

2.     A woman and three men partaking of a meal at a set table (f. 2v);

3.     Three elegantly attired women playing cards (f. 6r);

4.     A wife listens as her husband, holding a goblet recites the blessing over wine (f. 10v);

5.     An elegantly attired woman picks fruit from a tree in a formal garden (f. 12v);

6.     Two women preparing dough; one kneads as the other pours water (f. 14v);

7.     A woman entering a tub as a maidservant adds water(f. 15v);

8.     A woman recites the blessing over the candles while holding a prayerbook (f. 16v);

9.     A man holds a wine cup in his left hand and recites the havdalah prayer, marking the end of the Sabbath; a young child holds a spiral havdalah candle; in darker ink, a table between the man and child and a spicebox in the man's right hand (f. 18v);

10.   A woman sits on the edge of her bed, holding a prayerbook and reciting the Shma' prayer, before retiring (f. 23r);

11-16.   In addition, six elaborately decorated initial word panels appear on ff. 3r, 5r, 24v, 27v, 30r, and 32r.

Zimmel exhibits great artistic skill in the diversity of his characters' facial expressions as well as their finely drawn garments. He further distinguishes his production from other decorated Hebrew manuscripts of the period through his relatively skilled use of perspective. The refined execution of his images is a successful imitation of the copper-engraving technique which, in the course of the eighteenth century, had become ever more popular in deluxe printed Hebrew books. He even goes so far as to state on the title page of this manuscript that the work is "engraved on the plates," perhaps an allusion to his likely employment as an engraver when he was not producing exquisite Hebrew manuscripts.  

One woman who owned this manuscript even penned in additions to the text written by Zimmel and further enhanced the precious volume by incorporating her own tekhines (supplications) for the health of her family. She also copied the biblical text of the haftarah for the first day of Rosh ha-Shanah (Samuel 1:1-2:10), which includes the heartfelt Prayer of Hannah, in which the tearful entreaties of a barren woman are answered by God. The devotion exhibited by the very act of adding this text, so intrinsically poignant and so very important to any woman of childbearing years, is inspiring, even today, centuries after it was written on these pages.

The story of the manuscript's survival in later generations is no less moving than its earlier history, and indeed a truly remarkable testimony to its importance as a family heirloom.  In the dark years immediately preceding the Second World War, it became apparent that German Jews were no longer able to emigrate freely nor export valuables out of Germany. In the German city of Dessau, the matriarch of the family that owned the manuscript took matters into her own hand. Taking this exquisite miniature prayerbook, as well as a ring and an amulet, she baked these precious treasures into a challah loaf, which she then shipped to her son, a Zionist youth leader in Denmark. Thus was this invaluable artifact saved from certain destruction, eventually arriving in the Land of Israel.