Illuminated Manuscript – Machzor for High Holidays, Apam Rite – Asti, 1776 – Written for a Woman

Illuminated Manuscript – Machzor for High Holidays, Apam Rite – Asti, 1776 – Written for a Woman

Manuscript, machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to the Apam (Asti-Fossano-Moncalvo) rite. Asti, [1776].

Title page decorated with frame: "Order of prayers, piyyutim and krovetz for high holidays according to the rite of… our French rabbis…". The bottom part of the title page names the woman for whom the machzor was scribed, as well as the location and date of writing: "Written at the behest of the honorable and modest Mrs. Keila Chanah Treves, wife of R. Yehoshua Chai Montalcina… in Asti, [1776]". Below this is written (as customary in printed books): "Con Licenza del Divino Superiore".

Signature of owner on front endpaper: "My portion by lot, Adar 1828, Moshe son of R. Yehoshua Chai Montalcini".

[1], 94, [4] leaves. 26 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Wear and tears. Several leaves detached. Leather binding, with metal clasp. Tears and damage to binding.

A booklet is added (4 written pages) with the Kedushah prayer for Musaf, in another hand.

Provenance: Collection of Rabbi Prof. Eliyah Shmuel Hartom, Jerusalem.

The Apam Rite

"Apam" is an acronym for the communities of Asti, Fossano, and Moncalvo. All three communities were established by Jewish exiles from France who settled in the Piedmont region of Italy after being expelled from France in the 14th century. Once in Italy, most Jewish émigrés from France adopted the customs and traditions of the communities that absorbed them, and only these three communities clung to the French traditions they arrived with, thus preserving the ancient French rite. The French rite resembles the Ashkenazic rite, but differs from it both in its own particular versions of some of the prayers, and in the distinctive piyyutim that are peculiar to it. Siddurim associated with the Apam rite were never printed, and they survive only in manuscript form (on the Apam rite see: Zunz, Rites of Synagogue Liturgy, Breuer-Fraenkel Hebrew translation, Jerusalem 2016, pp. 64-65; Goldschmidt, Leket Shichchah UPeah LeMachzor Apam, Kiryat Sefer XXX, Jerusalem 1955, pp. 118-136).

The present machzor preserves the piyyutim and distinctive liturgy of the Apam rite, including a unique version of Kol Nidrei, the piyyut Eten Tehilah introducing the Avodah prayer, and more.