Funeral rites for Kaal Kadosh Shahar Ashamaim : manuscript.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Henriques, Aaron Cohen, 1832-1895, creator.

Contributor:

Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica (University of Pennsylvania)

Kaplan, Arnold Harvey, 1939- donor.

Kaplan, Deanne, donor.

Kahal Kadosh Sha'ar Hashamayim, addressee.

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Jewish funeral rites and ceremonies--Jamaica.

Jewish funeral rites and ceremonies.

Jewish mourning customs.

Prayers for the dead--Judaism.

Prayers for the dead.

Jews--Jamaica--Kingston--19th century--History--Sources.

Jews.

Zidduk ha-din--Liturgical use--Jamaica--Kingston.

Zidduk ha-din.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Liturgical books.

Manuscripts, Hebrew -- 19th century.

Manuscripts, English -- 19th century.

Penn Provenance:

Purchased for the Penn Libraries 2020 by Arnold and Deanne Kaplan (Collectify no. 2020.12.19.00004; 13.1916); purchased at auction (Kestenbaum & Co., Auction 91 lot 133).

Physical Description:

1 volume (14 leaves) : paper ; 17 x 12 cm

Production:

Kingston, Jamaica, Kislev 1 5629 (1868 15 November)

Language Note:

Text in Hebrew, with instructions in English; author descriptions on first and last pages translated (in Hebrew (f. 1r) and English (f. 16v)).

Summary:

Small volume of prayers for funeral rites (f. 4r-14r) in Hebrew with English headings (On rending the garment, Blessing on entering a burial ground, The body is now taken to the grave in procession, This is said after the Escābā), preceded by instructional notes (Days on which no תחנות are said; includes laws of ḳeriʻah, or rending a garment at the moment of death; (f. 1v-2v). The pages are ruled in lead. The first page (f. 1r) in Hebrew: "הספר הזה נכתב על ידי אהרן הכהן הנריקיש ואשר נתנה לבית חיים לקהל קדוש שער השמים ביום א' לחדש כסלו...", and the last page, in English, says, "This book was written by Aaron Cohen Henriques and presented to the Kaal Kadosh Shahar Ashamaim for the use of the burial ground, Kislev 1, 5629, corresponding with Sunday 15th November 1868" (f. 16v). The first page has a decorative border in ink in the form of an arch with vines entwining the supporting columns and a lit candle above the text below the center of the arch (f. 1r); the last page has a small drawing in ink of drawn curtains above the text (f. 16v). In a commercial notebook with a full leather binding with covers with simple gilt borders, almost detached, and pastedowns of marbled paper. The spine is in fragile condition. The Spanish-Portuguese synagogue for which the manuscript was written, Kahal Kadosh Sha'ar Hashamayim, was erected in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1744.

Contents:

1. f. 1r-2v: [Instructions]

2. f.4r-8r: [Funeral service]

3. f.8r-12v: [Hashkavah, or Escābā, liturgy for a man, woman, and child]

4. f. 13v-14r: [Final mourner's recitations].

Notes:

Hebrew text written in a Sephardic square script, mostly vocalized.

Cited as:

Aaron Cohen Henriques, Funeral Rites (MS 56, Codex 052.1). Library at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1553211584