[Epistle to the Jews of Ancona].
[אגרת אל קהל אנקונה].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Nahum, Eliezer, approximately 1653-1746, signer.

Mizraḥi, Yiśraʼel Meʼir, -1748 or 1749, signer.

ʻArukh, Yitsḥaḳ, signer.

Ashkenazi, Yaʻaḳov, active 1741, signer.

Meyuḥas, Raphael Meyuḥas ben Samuel, 1695?-1771, signer.

Mizraḥi, Mosheh, signer.

Yaʻaḳov Daṿid Yeḳutiʼel, ha-Kohen, signer.

Diwan, Judah ben Amram, -approximately 1752, signer.

Ṿaḳnin, Daniʼel, former owner.

Elis & Ruth Douer Endowed Fund.

נחום, אליעזר.

מזרחי, ישראל מאיר.

ערוך, יצחק.

אשכנזי, יעקב.

מיוחס, רפאל מיוחס בן שמואל, 1695?-1771

מזרחי, נסים חיים משה בן יוסף

יעקב דוד יקותיאל, הכהן.

דיוואן, יאודה, נפ׳ 1752 ca

וקנין, דניאל.

Language:

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Azulai, Refaʼel Yitsḥaḳ Zeraḥyah.

ibn Asher, Avraham.

Rabbis--Jerusalem--18th century--Correspondence.

Rabbis.

Charity.

Genre:

letters (correspondence)

tuǧras.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Daniʼel Ṿaḳnin (inscription, f. 2r).

Sold by Kedem Auctions (Jerusalem), Auction 72 (July 7, 2020) lot 92.

Physical Description:

1 bifolium (2 leaves) : paper ; 290 x 217 (183 x 195) mm.

Place of Publication:

Yerushalayim, [March 1741].

ירושלים, [סדר ויקרא תק"א].

Language Note:

Hebrew.

Biography/History:

Refaʼel Yitsḥaḳ Zeraḥyah Azulai, scholar and cabalist in the Jerusalemite Jewish settlement (ישוב הישן), died in Tevet 5524 (1763-4), first according to his eldest son, Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (Hida; Shem ha-gedolim, "Avraham Azulai"); served at the Beth Din of Refaʼel Meyuḥas in Jerusalem, and published Hayim Vital's Shaʻare ḳedushah (Istanbul: Yonah Ashkenazi, 1734); Ḥayim Avraham Refaʼel ibn Asher (died 1772) succeeded Meyuḥas as Rishon le-Tsiyon in 1771, and was among the founders of Yeshivat Beit El (the cabalistic yeshivah of the Rashash), Old City of Jerusalem.

Summary:

This is a manuscript letter of introduction sent preceding Refaʼel Yitsḥaḳ Zeraḥyah Azulai to the community of Ancona, likely dispatched before his arrival to the city. The letter describes the Jerusalem Jewish settlement experiencing food shortage, drought, violence, and despoliation (מחוץ תשכל חרב ומחדרים אימה וחימה שפוכה; line 5 of second paragraph) and the mission of Azulai and Avraham ibn Asher was to be extended beyond their current itinerary of Istanbul (Kushta in this letter; second paragraph, line 10). Azulai may not have actually continued past Istanbul (Yaari, Sheluhe Erets Yisra'el, page 390 (Yaari apparently did not see this manuscript); correspondence cited in David Meldola, She'elot u-teshuvot Divre David (Amsterdam, 1743), responsa 76).

Notes:

Ms. bifolium.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Paper, 2; 1²; modern foliation in pencil, 1-2, lower left recto.

Layout: Written in two columns (first column of three lines, second column of sixteen lines); four lines on dorse (f. 2v).

Script: Written in a calligraphic Sephardic semicursive script, possibly in the hand of Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (examples of his semicursive script: British Library Or 9170 (a codex manuscript), and the letter in Yaari (page 579)).

Decoration: Eight tuǧras below text (1: Eliezer Nahum, author of Ḥazon Naḥum ; 2: Yiśraʼel Meʼir ben Yosef Mizrahi, author of Peri ha-arets ; 3: Yitsḥaḳ ʻArukh ; 4: Yaʻaḳov Ashkenazi ; 5. Meyuḥas Bekhor Shemuʼel, author of Peri ha-adamah ; 6: Nisim Ḥayim Mosheh Mizrahi, author of Admat ḳodesh ; 7: Daṿid Yeḳutiʼel ha-kohen ; 8: Yehudah ben Amram Diwan, author of Ḥuṭ ha-meshulash).

Origin: Written in Jerusalem, possibly drafted by Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, in March 1741 ("לס[דר] לריח ניחוח אשה הוא לה' שנת קחו מ'א'ת'כ'ם'" - chronogram).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Elis & Ruth Douer Endowed Fund.

Cited as:

Epistle to the Jews of Ancona. (UPenn CAJS Rar Ms 647). Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1395910059