[Prayers for the time of plague].
[תפילות לזמן מגיפות].

Format:

• Book
• Manuscript

Contributor:

• Rare Judaica Acquisitions Fund.
• Donati, Yosef Tsemaḥ Gavriʼel, dedicatee.
• Gross, William L., former owner.
• דונאטי, יוסף גבריאל צמח.

Language:

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

• Plague--Italy--18th century.
• Plague--Italy--19th century.
• Plague--Religious aspects--Judaism.
• Jews--Italy--18th century--History--Sources.
• Jews--Italy--19th century--History--Sources.

Genre:

• codices (bound manuscripts)
• calligraphy (visual works)
• Miniature books.
• Manuscripts, European.

Penn Provenance:

• Formerly owned by Tel Aviv collector William L. Gross (Kedem); former call number The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.012.003.
• Sold by Kedem Auctions (Jerusalem), Sale 92 lot 68 (as part of selections from the Gross Family Collection).

Physical Description:

16 leaves : parchment ; 92 x 65 (82 x 61) mm bound to 95 x 70 mm.

Place of Publication:

• [Italy], [1775?-1825?].
• [איטליה], [1775?-1825?].

Language Note:

Hebrew.

Summary:

This is a miniature manuscript of prayers for the time of plague on parchment; the prayers consist of selections from the Psalms (XLI, XX, XXXVIII) and verse repetition (Genesis XVIII:6, XLIII:11) and the "Parashat ha-Ḳeṭoret" (the Biblical and Talmudic passages detailing the creation of the incense in the Temple; the invocation of the incense used as a spiritual protection from plague is likely based on the Zohar (Ṿa-yeḥi 419)), completing on f. 9r; additional verses from Numbers (XVII:11-13), and the concluding prayer (f. 10r-11r), and miscellanea (f. 11r-12v). A Shiviti amulet was begun but not finished (f. 13r; folios 14-16 blank); large Shiviti text written in calligraphy (f. 1r).

Notes:

• Ms. codex.
• Title supplied by cataloger.
• Collation: Parchment, 16; 1¹⁶; modern foliation in pencil, lower left recto, 1-16.
• Layout: Written in columns of 13-14 lines; pricking at outer margins of text column; catchwords; lead ruling for Menorah-style Shiviti (f. 13r).
• Script: Written in a Italian square script, possibly in two different hands; instructions written in a Sephardic semicursive script; Shiviti text written in an Italian calligraphy (f. 1r).
• Binding: Contemporary leather on pasteboard, with blind-tooling (frame, inner lines, and asterisms).
• Origin: Written in Italy during the last quarter of the 18th century or the first quarter of the 19th century (script, parchment); written for the bachelor Yosef Tsemaḥ Gavriʼel Donaṭi (f. 12v: "לזכות הבחור נעים יוסף צמח גבריאל דונאטי יצ"ו").

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rare Judaica Acquisitions Fund.

Cited as:

Prayers for the time of plague. (UPenn CAJS Rar Ms 656). Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1405921603

Online:

The Rare Judaica Acquisitions Fund Home Page