Berit Shalom: ṿe-hu tiḳun ha-milah be-fizmoneha ṿe-shireha ṿe-dineha ʿim sidure birkhoteha. ברית שלום: והוא תיקון המילה בפזמוניה ושיריה ודיניה עם סדורי ברכותיה. [Compilation of halakhic and kabbalistic discourses about the circumcision. Poems and hymns recited on the occasion of a circumcision].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Berit Shalom: ṿe-hu tiḳun ha-milah be-fizmoneha ṿe-shireha ṿe-dineha ʿim sidure birkhoteha. ברית שלום: והוא תיקון המילה בפזמוניה ושיריה ודיניה עם סדורי ברכותיה. [Compilation of halakhic and kabbalistic discourses about the circumcision. Poems and hymns recited on the occasion of a circumcision].
Classmark: MS ROTH/60
Creator(s): (creator); Arkevolty, Shmuel (1515-1611)(poet); (poet); Carpi, Yehudah (fl 1699)(poet); Alṭaras, Yitsḥaḳ(poet); Leone, Mosheh ben Yitsḥaḳ of Urbino(poet); Moshe ibn Gaṭenyo(poet); Cordovero, Moses ben Jacob (1522-1570)(author)
Date(s): [1600–1620]
Language: Hebrew; Aramaic
Size and medium: 201 leaves : vellum, illustrations
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115484
Description
Hebrew title supplied from title page. English title derived from Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 60.
Variant titles:
Dinim ṿe-seder ha-berakhot li-verit milah. דינים וסדר הברכות לברית מילה.
Pizmonim u-tefilot li-verit milah. פזמונים ותפלות לברית מילה.
Tiḳune ha-Zohar (ḳeṭaʿim). ( תקוני הזוהר (קטעים.
Shulḥan ʻarukh ḳitsur (ḳeṭaʿim). שלחן ערוך קצור (קטעים).
Shemaʿ na ḳehali ṿe-haḳshiv le-ḳoli. שמע נא קהלי והקשיב לקולי.
Place and time of creation:
On title page: פה פיסארו ("here [in] Pesaro").
Roth, "Catalogue," no. 60 dates the manuscript to "about 1600," which seems likely as the rabbi of Pesaro, Shabtai Refaʾel Ḥai Mondolfo (d. 1620?), who is mentioned in the manuscript, is referred to as still alive (see below Former owners and annotations).
Summary:
Illuminated luxury manuscript. Author and compiler of the whole item is possibly Yiśraʾel Mondolfo, the brother of Shabtai Refaʾel Ḥai Mondolfo (see below Former owners and annotations, and Scribal information ).
The items contains a collection of hymns mostly from Italian poets for the circumcision service, as well as a halakhic and kabbalistic discourse about the laws and meaning of the circumcision with reference to and lengthy quotations of various halakhic and kabbalistic sources (most are from the 16th century). The discourse is in form of an introduction, a short treatise, and an extensive, complex commentary to a hymn with 77 stanzas which itself renders traditions pertaining to the circumcicion; included in the commentary is also the discussion of the laws concerning the circumcision of slaves and proselytes.
The part with hymns and prayers is headed by an index. Most hymns have headings informing about the author, and the occasion of the hymn; sometimes, the heading names another hymn according to whose melody the copied hymn is supposed to be sung (the title of at last one hymn which is mentioned for its melody is given in Judaeo-Italian (see folio 25v)).
Contents:
1. folio 1r: Title page.
2. folio 1v: blank.
3. folios 2r–3r: הקדמת הספר by ישראל [מונדולפו] (Yiśraʾel [Mondolfo]); kabbalistic introduction with reference to the Ten Sefirot and some of Mondolfo's sources.
4. folio 3v–4r: blank.
5. folios 4v–5r: מפתחות השירים; index to the hymns on folios ה to מג (folios 8r–46r).
6. folios 5v–6v: blank.
7. folios 7r–49r: פזמונים על המילה, comprising among others: שבטי יה נחלתך (folio 7r); ארזי לבנון יפרחו by !שמואל [בן אלחנן יעקב] ארקילטי (folio 7v); אספו לי חסידי עם נחלתי (folio 18r); שיר שבחה בקול שמחה by משה ליאוני [בן יצחק מאורבינו] in honor of שלמה ליאוני (folio 23v); היום בהתבוסס בדמיך [by יוסף קלב] (folio 24v); לך אלי ארים (folio 26v) and מזמור שיר היום (folio 27v), both by Mosheh Leone; זכור ברית אבותינו by יצחק אלטאראס (folio 27r); לשוכן עדי עד (folio 29v), תהלת אל ידבר (folio 30v), and בקל תושבחתא (folio 31v), all three by יהודה חיים יצ׳׳ו מקארפי (Yehudah Ḥayim of Carpi); מהולל אקרא אל מקדש by מצליח סגרי? יצ׳׳ו מאוטסט?רו (folio 32v); ברכי נפשי את י״י הללויה
ברא by משה ן' גאטיניו (folio 33r); שישו שמחו בני אל by שבתי רפאל חי מונדולפו (folio 36r) (see below Former owners and annotations); שירו נא לאל בשחר לצור דם (folio 39v) by [ישראל מונדולפו] (see below Former owners and annotations).
8. folios 49v–50v: ruled with decorative coloured border but without written text.
9. folio 51: Prayer beginning אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו קיים את הילד.
10. folios 52r–53r: ruled with decorative coloured border but without written text.
11. folio 53v: blank.
12. folios 61r–62v: Prayers and instructions for the immediate circumcision ceremony.
13. folios 62r–63v: דיני מילה (with references to [ש[ני] ל[וחות] ה[ברית and ש[ולחן] ע[רוך]).
14. folios 64–72: blank.
15. folios 73–191: שמע נא קהלי והקשיב לקולי, poem with 77 stanzas (numbered in Hebraic letters) about the rules of circumcision with extensive commentary discussing the laws and meaning of the circumcision with reference to and quotations of various kabalistic and halakhic sources like ספר בדק הבית by Josef Caro; the commentary comprises among others, the rules regarding the circumcision of slaves (דינים השייכים למילת עבדים) (folios 152v–155r) and proselytes (דינים השייכים למילת גרים) (folios 155r–160r), as well as:
הקדמת תקוני זהר דף י׳ ב׳: ועוד ברית דתקוני with two commentaries (folios 182v–184v); בתקון ל׳׳ז דף פ״א ב׳ וכ״ד דף ס׳׳ח ב׳ with commentaries by הרמ׳׳ק and הראב׳׳כ (folios 184r–186v)
Roth, "Catalogue", p. 524 assigns a separate class mark, MS Roth 323a, to the hymn about the circumcision customs and regulations, שמע נא קהלי (folios 73–191); in his classification system the 300s are used for items related to Halakhah.
State of text: Some staining and wear but relatively well preserved; item underwent conservation work.
Insertions: Three pieces of paper on which Roth has written bibliographical notes about the manuscript.
Bibliographical note:
Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 60 and 323a.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001793960205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 60 made on behalf of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the NLI during the 1960s. The microfilm can now be downloaded in a digitised form from the NLI-webpage.
Frojmovič, Hebraica (Leeds, 1997), no. 6.
Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 60.
Decoration
Decoration 1: Title page in two columns embedded in coloured and gilt double-arched portal in early Baroque style (three Solomonic columns connected with two arches) with additional ornamental designs which include flowers and four birds of different species, among them a parrot and likely a goldfinch; all decorations are most intricately drawn.
Decoration 2: Blue and gold coloured rectangular border with vertical coloured band in centre decorated with gilt vines in the middle (folios 4r–42r, 46v–53r, 73r–144v).
Decoration 3: Coloured and/or ornamented initial words and headings.
Decoration 4: Running titles above coloured border (folios 1r–3r; 7r–40r).
Decoration 5: Hebrew foliation (folios 2-4 and 8r–53r).
Decoration 6: Carefully executed, at times very complex layout.
Decoration 7: Completion formulas.
Decoration 8: Different script sizes for different parts of the text.
Decoration 9: Maintenance of left margins.
Decoration 10: Decorative substitute for Tetragrammaton.
Decoration 11: Catchwords.
Decoration 12: Poetic spacing.
Physical characteristics
Foliation: ii (vellum; i is paste-down) + 192 + vii (vellum; vii is paste-down); modern pencil foliation, upper left recto; folios 1v, 3v–4r, 5v–6v, 49v–50v, 52–53, 54–60, 64–72 are blank (some blank leaves are ruled in hard point; folios 49v–50v, 52r–54r have also decorative blue and gold border); Hebrew foliation by the scribe starts after title page; it runs from א to ג, does not foliate the following three leaves (folios 5–7), and then goes on from ה to נ (folios 8r–53r).
Catchwords: horizontal, on versos and rectos, below left corner of coloured border (folios 1–40).
Ruling: frame-ruled in hard point; 23 lines per column (folios 1–63); more complex ruling (folios 63–193); prickings in outer and inner margins.
Number of lines: 12-24 lines to a column.
Columns: folios 1–63: 2; folios 73–193: 2–4 columns or textblocks.
Script: Italian Hebrew script.
Ms. codex: width 100mm height 79mm
Binding
(17th-century?) full dark brown leather over boards; gilt foliage roll border on covers and spine; sewn over three raised bands; gilt text block edges; held in a custom-made box covered with brown cloth.
Scribal information
See below ‘Former owners and annotations.’
Former owners and annotations
First owner, author, compiler and scribe of the item was likely the circumciser Yiśraʾel Mondolfo; see folio 2v where he gives his personal name Yiśraʾel, and folio 36r where he provides his family name in the heading of the hymn שישו שמחו בני אל. There, the writer states that the hymn was composed by his brother, Rabbi Shabtai Refaʾel Ḥai Mondolfo in honor of their brother-in-law Mosheh Della Rocca and the happy occasion of the birth and circumcision of the latter’s son in Senigallia (Italy):פזמון על המילה אשר חברו הנעלה כמהח׳׳ר שבתי רפאל חי מונדולפו אחי יצ׳׳ו לכבוד גיסנו היקר כמ״ר משה מלרוקה יצ׳׳ו לשמחת בנו הנולד לו בסיניגאלייא.
See also the heading of the hymn שירו נא לאל בשחר לצור דם (folio 39v) which states: פזמון של המילה אשר הכינותי אני הכותב לשמחת הבן הנולד לו לכמר מרדכי ה??? יוחנן גאליקו זצ׳׳ל והיום השמוני ללידתו וכרתי אותו.
The bookplate for The Cecil Roth Collection designed for the Cecil Roth Collection in a collaboration between Roth and the University of Leeds is pasted over Roth's ex-libris which is attached to front paste-down; Roth’s description of MS Roth 60, cut out from a copy of his printed catalogue, is attached to the front free end-paper.
Access and usage
Access
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