[Miscellany of cabalistic and medical texts and formularies].
[קובץ שמות, תורופות וקבלה-מעשית].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Isaac ben Samuel, of Acre, author in quotations or text abstracts.

Naḥmanides, approximately 1195-approximately 1270, author in quotations or text abstracts.

Contributor:

Alnaqua, Yitsḥaḳ, scribe.

Alnaqua, Shelomoh ben Yitsḥaḳ, scribe.

Haleṿi, Daṿid, active 15th century, scribe.

Klagsbald, Victor, former owner.

אלנאקווה, שלמה בן יצחק.

הלוי, דוד בן שמואל, מספרד.

Language:

Aramaic

Hebrew

Judeo-Arabic

Subjects (All):

Angels--Judaism.

Angels.

Cabala--Spain--Andalusia--15th century--Texts.

Cabala.

Cabala--Morocco--Souss-Massa-Drâa--15th century--Texts.

Tetragrammaton.

Medicine, Medieval.

Manuscripts, Hebrew--Spain--14th century--Specimens.

Manuscripts, Hebrew.

Manuscripts, Hebrew--Spain--Toledo--15th century--Specimens.

Manuscripts, Hebrew--Spain--Seville--15th century--Specimens.

Manuscripts, Hebrew--Morocco--Tamegroute--15th century.

Genre:

Manuscripts, Hebrew -- 14th century.

Manuscripts, Hebrew -- 15th century.

codices (bound manuscripts)

formularies

Manuscripts, Medieval.

Manuscripts.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Kedem Auctions (Jerusalem), Auction 102 (5 June 2025), lot 19 (as part of the collection of Victor Klagsbald); purchased by Klagsbald, "Herschler, Jérusalem, 1992" (pencil note by Klagsbald, inside front cover).

The manuscript was in Morocco likely until the 18th century (note in a 17th/18th-century Moroccan cursive script: "הם דרשו לעשות... וזה בדוק ומנוסה להר' יעקב דרהימאן זצ"ל", on f. 30r).

Physical Description:

42 leaves : paper, illustrations ; 200 x 148 mm bound to 210 x 158 mm

Place of Publication:

[Seville and Toledo, Spain], [1350?-1499?]

Language Note:

Hebrew; one passage in Aramaic and Judeo-Arabic (f. 15v-16r).

Summary:

Miscellany of cabalistic texts, demonstrations, recipes, and notes likely assembled by David [ben Samuel] Halevi of Seville, Spain (and Tamegroute, Morocco, after the Spanish Expulsion of 1492), organized and annotated by him and his school, and formerly associated with the Alnaqua family (likely of Toledo). The first gathering (f. 1r-24v) contain mystical combinations of Biblical verses, permutations of the Tetragrammaton, the 22 and 42 letter Divine names, lists of angels and their offices and shifts, abjurations (hashbaʻot) against evil angels, and practical uses of the cabala (for traveling, f. 15r; dreams, f. 15v; for visions (petihạt ha-lev), difficulty bearing children, against fires and floods, to open locked doors without keys, to strike blindness and demons upon enemies, and to nullify evil decrees); includes Tefilat Rav Hamnuna (f. 23r-24r; pseudepigraph attributed to Hamnuna the Elder who received it from Adam through an angel; the prayer is in Todros ben Joseph ha-Levi Abulafia, Otsar ha-kavod), and a quote from Naḥmanides, Sefer Ha-sodot (f. 24a). The second gathering (f. 25r-42v) is comprised of smaller gatherings and bifolia from Sephardic cabalistic treatises, including a 14th-century bifolium (f. 29-30) with similar themes, including assistance with confidence, gait, public speech, and additionally for visions. Final folio contains mantras and allotted repitition counts (f. 42r: "אמור אותו ה' פעמים ויעסוק בתורה ובמשנא...").

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Paper, iii (modern endpaper) + 42 + iii (modern endpaper); 1² 2-11⁴; modern foliation in pencil, 1-42, lower left recto.

Layout: Written mostly in 24 long lines, with the exception of the demonstrations on f. 38r-39v and the final folios.

Script: Written in multiple Spanish semicursive scripts, in multiple hands; indented opening words of paragraphs mostly in Spanish square scripts; Tetragrammatons written in Sephardic square versals (f. 38v-39v); Divine names, angelic names, and words of emphasis vocalized.

Decoration: Pseudo-script attributed to angels (for example, f.32v; the examples in this manuscript are some of the earliest surviving of the angel script); a six-pointed star (f. 16r); manicules; grape clusters in margins.

Binding: Modern polished white leather binding, with five blind bands on spine; fitted with a cloth box, with marbled paper interior.

Origin: Many gatherings written in Spain during the 15th century, with one gathering likely from the second half of the 14th century; manuscript sources quoted (Otsar ha-Ḥayim by Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (f. 14r: "אני הצעיר יד"ע [יצחק דמן עכו] ישן במטתי ליל ו' א"י לחדש...") ; Yaʻaḳov Ha-rofe bar Mosheh (f. 10r; possibly related to the family from 14th-century Saragossa); the gathering now f.31-36 signed by Shelomoh ben Yitsḥaḳ Alnaqua (f. 31r: "אני שלמה בר כבוד החכם השלם בכל חכמה ר' יצחק אלנקאוה זלה"ה מפי אבא מארי כמו שקבל מהאשכנזי באשכנז..."); annotations from David Halevi of Seville (signed on f. 17r: "וזה אסור מן התורה, משמי אני דוד ב"ר שמואל הלוי ז"ל", there referring to the impermissibility of necromancy recommended by the central text; another note on f. signed "מאמר דוד"); another annotation signed by Yitsḥaḳ Alnaqua (f. 25v: "אני אי"ן").

Cited as:

Miscellany of Cabalistic and Medical Texts and Formularies (UPenn CAJS Rar Ms 780). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1529952900