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Ḥibat ha-ḳodesh : manuscript.
חבת הקודש.
Library at the Katz Center - Rare Book Manuscript CAJS Rar Ms 477
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- Format:
- Book
- Manuscript
- Author/Creator:
- Shoib, Sheraga Feyvush Tsevi, approximately 1797-1855, author, scribe.
- Language:
- Hebrew
- Yiddish
- Subjects (All):
- Palestine--Description and travel.
- Palestine.
- Palestine--In Judaism.
- Palestine in Judaism.
- Travel.
- Middle East--Palestine.
- Manuscripts, Hebrew--19th century--Specimens.
- Manuscripts, Hebrew.
- Genre:
- Codices.
- Diaries.
- Travel writing.
- Penn Provenance:
- The author and scribe was a ḥasid of R. Abraham Jacob Friedman, Admor of Sadigura (1820-1883) and R. Menaḥem-Mendel Hager of Kosov (1768-1825).
- Sold by Kestenbaum Auctions, Auction no. 70 (Thursday, September 22, 2016), lot 101.
- The author and scribe may have been a relative of the first Rebbe of Sadigura, Avraham Ya'akov Friedman (1820-1883) (Kestenbaum); the provenance of the manuscript was certainly Tsefat for the latter part of the 19th century.
- Formerly owned by יצחק פרידמאנן שו"ב בצפת ת"ו Isak Fridmann, Saffed (stamp on title).
- Formerly owned by משה לייב שו"ב - Mosheh-Leyb Shoib (signature on rear paste-down), "...Mosheh-Leyb..." (signature on front paste-down). Mosheh-Leyb Shoib (d. 1912) was the author's son, and the ritual slaughterer and inspector after his father in Safed.
- Formerly owned by יצחק פרידמאנן שו"ב בצפת ת"ו Isak Fridmann, Saffed (stamp on title). He has been identified as Itzchak Friedman (1893-1923), the author's great-grandson and member of the Haganah.
- Physical Description:
- 59 leaves : paper ; 220 x 160 mm (190 x 130 mm) bound to 230 x 160 mm + 26 notes
- Production:
- [Yahilnytsia, Ukraine] : [Safed, Israel], [after 1845]
- [ייגלניציא, אוקריינה] : [צפת], [אחר 1845]
- Language Note:
- In Hebrew, with Arabic place names spelled phonetically in Hebrew characters, and minimal Yiddish in the travelogue portion (f. 2r-3r).
- Summary:
- This is a manuscript of brief works surrounding The Holy Land, written and authored by Feivush (Sheraga Tsevi) Shoib, a "Shoḥeṭ u-Bodeḳ" (ש'וחט ו'ב'ודק) - ritual slaughterer and inspector who hailed from Jagielnica (today Yahilnytsia in the Chortkiv Raion in Western Ukraine, then far northeast of Galicia). The title of the work is Ḥibat ha-Ḳodesh, and this is an overarching title for many smaller treatises concerning The Holy Land. The work begins with a prologue, which serves as the travelogue portion of the manuscript; the author details his travels he undertook with a relative, R. Israel Kalischer, from Jagielnica (beginning in Iyyar (May) 1845, chronogram ה'דר'ת') through Bukovina and Transylvania, mentioning (Ukraine) Boiany, (Romania) Suceava, Iași, Bârlad; through Bulgaria and Greece, stopping in Rhodes; reaching The Holy Land on horseback. Table of contents follows prologue, where the author details the sections of the work, including each with a brief title. Included in the travelogue is a detailed early Rabbinic description of a propeller steamship (last paragraph of f.1a); also described is flatbread from Bulgaria and Greece; descriptions of the ship through turbulent storms; the holiday of Sukkot in the Greek Isles, including the traveler going to Rhodes to acquire building materials and building a Sukkah on the ship (discouraged in Jewish Law because of the fierce winds at sea; see, e.g. Rashi to BT Sukah 7b, s.v. "be-Rosh ha-Sefinah"). The work explores the geography, the historic and modern cities of the Bible, holy sites and graves, topography, and biblical history; often, the work follows a scheme of a bold header of a site from Biblical or Tannaic/Midrashic or Talmudic sources, and then provides an Arabic and contemporary name for the site, followed by a description of the sources and modern boundaries and geography. A later work, called be-Har Hashem Yera'eh about the sanctity of The Temple Mount, is inserted at the end, before the final two (original) leaves.Written in Tsefat (Safed), then under the Ottoman Empire, today in northern Israel.
- Contents:
- 1. f. 2-3: Ḥibat ha-ḳodesh.
- 2. f. 4-7: Gevule Erets Saviv.
- 3. f. 8-13a: Erets ha-Galil.
- 4. f. 13b.-16a: Ṭabur ha-Erets.
- 5. f. 16b-19: Neṿeh ha-Tsadiḳim.
- 6. f. 20-21a: Har Efrayim.
- 7. f. 21b-22: Shoresh Tsadiḳim.
- 8. f. 22-32: Shelom Yerushalayim.
- 9. f. 34-43: Shoresh ha-Arets.
- 10. f. 45-50: Gelilot ha-Yarden.
- 11. f. 51-53: Kanfot ha-Arets.
- 12. f. 55-57: be-Har Hashem Yera'eh.
- 13. f. 58-59: Tsidḳot Hashem.
- 1. f. 2-3: חבת הקודש. 2.
- f. 4-7 גבולי ארץ סביב. 3.
- f.8-13a ארץ הגליל. 4.
- f. 13b-16a טבור הארץ. 5.
- f. 16b-19: נוה הצדיקים. 6.
- f. 20-21a: הר אפרים. 7.
- f. 21b-22: שרש צדיקים. 8.
- f. 22-32: שלום ירושלים. 9.
- f. 34-43: שרש הארץ10.
- f. 45-50: גלילת הירדן. 11.
- f. 51-53: כנפות הארץ. 12. 55-57 fבהר ה' יראה.f. 58-59: 13.
- : f. צדקות ה'.
- Notes:
- Non-Latin script record
- The manuscript follows a double-column scheme through the entire portion of the text after the table of contents. For the prologue, there is one wide column with marginalia. There are many small notes tipped in with sources for addition to the text only seen later by the author. Written in later Ashkenazic cursive with a clear Eastern European influence. On the title, Ashkenazic block for the header, with a surrounding border of decorative verses adorning the boundaries.
- Binding is likely original cloth on board with a leather spine, damaged and splitting at tail.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.
- Cited as:
- CAJS Rar Ms 477.
- OCLC:
- 1082522911
- Access Restriction:
- Access to this item is subject to staff review.
- Online:
- Unique at Penn
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