Seder Birkhot ha-Torah…, Haftarah…, (Order of Blessings of the Torah, … Haftorah,…[and occasional blessings]), Scribe: Elijah Bunimowitsch, Frankfurt on Main: 1892

7 leaves  (12 ¼ x 8 ½ in.; 310 x 220 mm). Written in black ink on parchment in square Hebrew script, instructions in semi-cursive rabbinic Hebrew script. Verso of each parchment leaf backed with silk lined card, though f. 1 is separated; each leaf individually hinged Initial word panels and borders decorated in black and brown inks. Lightly stained. Silk doublures. Contemporary gilt tooled and paneled brown morocco; edge wear; rebacked. Housed in a modern buckram and card chemise within a matching slipcase.

This meticulously penned and beautifully decorated book of Torah blessings would have been kept on the Torah reader’s desk, or almemar, in a synagogue in Frankfurt at the end of the 19th century.  Those individuals honored by being called up to the Torah were expected to recite certain of these blessings before and after the Torah portion was read.  Variations appropriate to different festivals are included as are the blessings recited by an individual who has survived a dangerous journey or life-threatening illness, or by the father of a child attaining his Bar Mitzvah. An interesting halakhic note is added to the textual variant found here in the final haftorah blessing for Yom Kippur, citing as reasons for its inclusion, both the longstanding tradition of “the holy community of Frankfurt” and the authority of Rabbi Jacob Emden, a leading Ashkenazic rabbi.

There are three additional manuscripts recorded in the catalog of the Stadt und Universitätsbibliothek in Frankfurt, either signed by or ascribed to, Elijah Bunimowitsch.  At least one of these is explicitly dedicated to Baron Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (1828- 1901), and the present manuscript as well, may be presumed to have been done at the behest of Baron Rothschild.