Auction 54 Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Feb 7, 2017 (Your local time)
Israel
 8 Ramban St, Jerusalem.
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LOT 166:

Manuscript - Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur, with Kabbalistic Commentaries and Kavanot - ...

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Manuscript - Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur, with Kabbalistic Commentaries and Kavanot - Constantinople, ca 1742 - Unknown Composition
Manuscript, machzor for Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur, with Kabbalistic commentaries and kavanot. [Constantinople, 1740-1755]. Including an unknown piyyut by R. Chaim Benveniste and a fascinating historic documentation of events which took place in Constantinople.
Complete manuscript, in semi-cursive Oriental script. Contains Selichot for the month of Elul, prayers and piyyutim for the High Holidays with commentaries, kabbalistic custom and kavanot and other additions.
Apparently, the writer was a Torah scholar and kabbalist who prepared his own arrangement for the machzor with commentaries on the prayers and the piyyutim [which probably were never printed] and kabbalistic customs and kavanot. First, he wrote the text of the machzor leaving wide margins, later adding long notations and additions on the margins. Presumably, these explanations of the prayers and piyyutim are the writer's original work, unknown from any other source. Glosses written by another writer, a kabbalist as well, appear in several places.
On the margins of page 25b, the writer quotes a piyyut written by R. Aharon Alidi in 1742. This piyyut does not appear in Otzar HaShira V'Hapiyut by Davidson [R. Aharon Alidi, a Constantinople sage and poet, was a disciple of R. Moshe HaCohen, author of Kehunat Olam].
A piyyut appears before the Arvit prayer of Yom Kippur with the name of its composer at the bottom of the page: "Chaim Moda'i [R. Chaim Moda'i (1720-1794), a scholar of Constantinople who emigrated to Safed, disciple of R. Chaim Abulafia, author of the Chaim L'Olam responsa].
On the verso is another piyyut with the name of its composer at the top of the page: "By the Rabbi Knesset HaGedolah". Also this piyyut does not appear in the Otzar HaShira V'Hapiyyut by Davidson and we have not discovered a different source for this piyyut by R. Chaim Benveniste, Rabbi of Izmir and author of Knesset HaGedolah.
On the last leaf of the manuscript are inscriptions with an enthralling historical documentation of various events (including the coronation of the third Ottoman Sultan in December 1754), earthquakes and fires which took place in the city of Constantinople.
[1], 1-74, [1], 75-88, [6], 89-91, 5-29, [6] leaves (and several blank leaves). Slightly mispaginated. A leaf with Kabbalat Shabbat for Yom Kippur is bound between leaves 74 and 75 (the Musaf prayer for Rosh Hashanah). 20 cm. High-quality paper. Overall good condition. Stains, slight wear. Tears affecting text on the last leaf with the inscriptions. Contemporary leather binding.

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