[Pinḳas: shirim, ḥidot ha-tsurah, reshimot, ṿe-khu. / me-et Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ Noṿairah]. [פנקס : שירים, חידות הצורה, רשימות, וכו׳ / מאת מנחם בן יצחק נווירה]. [Clean copy notebook of Menahem Navarra : poems, riddles, notes, et cetera].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: [Pinḳas: shirim, ḥidot ha-tsurah, reshimot, ṿe-khu. / me-et Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ Noṿairah]. [פנקס : שירים, חידות הצורה, רשימות, וכו׳ / מאת מנחם בן יצחק נווירה]. [Clean copy notebook of Menahem Navarra : poems, riddles, notes, et cetera].
Classmark: MS ROTH/102
Creator(s): Noṿairah, Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ (1717-1777)(poet)
Date(s): [c 1747–c 1750]
Language: Hebrew; Italian
Size and medium: 30 leaves : paper
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115509
Description
Title supplied cataloguer.
Variant titles:
Emblem riddle.
Epithalamion.
Shir le-ḥatunah. שיר לחתונה.
Indications for place and time of production:
Folio 17v: פה וירונה שנת התק׳׳ט (Verona, 1748 or 1749) (date below poem).
Folio 24r: “Adi ii Marzo [1]750 Verona” (dated accounting notes).
Folio 24v: “Adi 12 Marzo [1]750 Verona” (dated accounting list).
Folio 25r: Date of death of Yitsḥaḳ ben Ḳolonimus Noiṿaira: ביום א׳ ה׳ לחדש אב שנת התק׳׳ב (Sunday, 25 July 1742).
Folio 26r: כ׳׳ג חדש אדר שני הא׳ תי׳׳ו קוף יו׳׳ד (31 March 1750) (dated accounting notes).
Summary:
Likely a fair copy book and autograph of Menahem Navarra, Rabbi of Verona (1717-1777) with some notebook features. It contains fair copies of 13 full compositions in honour of bridal pairs, and the rhymed epitaph on his father Yitsḥaḳ ben Ḳolonimus Noiṿaira; the majority of the compositions bear Menahem Navarra's signature; the wedding poems are mostly in form of emblem riddles (all without the actual drawing) with enigmatic poems (see below List of fair copy poems).
Folios 19v–21v, 23v–24v and 26 are of more notebook-like character and comprise variant entries in Hebrew and Italian (Latin script) including notes on poetry and riddles (as well as their solutions), on books, accounting notes, list of alms of communal charities in Verona, drafts of poems, et cetera.
Some of the enigmatic compositions in MS Roth 102 are discussed in Dan Pagis, “על סוד חתום=A Secret Sealed: Hebrew Baroque Emblem-Riddles from Italy and Holland”, Supplement to Tarbiz (1986).
Emblem puzzles (without illustrations) and (enigmatic) poems in honour of bridal pairs as well as 1 epitaph contained in MS Roth 102 in fair copy:
1. folios 3–4: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of דוד בן יהודא לומברוסו and שרה בת יוסף פירארין; poem’s opening words: אם תעמוד עלי (see also MS ROTH/115/9 a manuscript broad sheet with the same composition).
2. folios 5–6: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of משה אהרן חי בן יוסף ישראל רבא and אסתר בת מנחם יצחק רבא; poem’s opening words: שתים הנה בשם ומראה.
3. folio 7: Poem in honour of the wedding of the same bridal pair as in previous poem; poem’s opening words: כל טוב הלא.
4. folio 8: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of אלישיב בן יעקב מנחם טריויס and בת שבע בת מנחם קונסיליו; poem’s opening words: דע מאין באתי.
5. folio [9]: שיר שבח והודאה for a wedding; opening words: חבל מליצי חן.
6. folios 9–11r: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of אברהם חיים הכהן בן מנחם קונסיליו and שושנה בת דוד ציויטה; poem’s opening words: בצל שדי בצל עליון.
7. folios 11v–12r: Poem in honour of the wedding of אברהם חיים הכהן בן יוסף הכהן and לאורה בת מנחם קונסיליו; poem’s opening words: עת יחרוש חורש.
8. folios 12v–13r: Poem in honour of the wedding of אברהם קונסיליו בן מנחם קונסיליו and שושנה בת דוד ציויטה (see also folios 9–11); poem’s opening words: מכל יציר נברא.
9. folios 13v–14v: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of קלונימוס בן יצחק גריגו and מלכה בת אברהם צמח; poem’s opening words: עלי אפר וחול נקי.
10. folios 15r–16r: Poem for the wedding of the same couple as in the previous composition; opening words: מי זה אשר יוכל.
11 folios 16v–17v: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of יקותיאל בן אברהם רימיני and שמחה בת נפתלי בש; date: פה וירונה שנת התק׳׳ט (see above); poem’s opening words: אני נמצא אני הוה.
12. folios 18v–19r: צורת החידה (without illustration) and enigmatic poem in honour of the wedding of יעקב גרשון באסיליאה בן מרדכי יצחק and רחל בת משלם בש; poem’s opening words: טרם אקנה צורה (see also 19v: introduction? to another not extant poem in honour of the same bridal pair).
13. folio 22r: Sonnet in honour of the wedding of אליעזר בן יצחק גריגו and חנה שמחה בת יוסף לוי מורטירה; poem’s opening words: אשמח בגיל היום.
14. folio 25r: Rhymed epitaph (מצבת קבורה) for יצחק בן קולונימוס נווירה; died on Monday, 5 Av 502 (see also above); poem’s opening words: בנים נהי אפוא (published in Roth, “Rabbi Menahem Navarra”, Jewish Quarterly Review 15 (1925): 460).
State of text: Folio 8r is missing upper left corner with loss of some text; half of folio 23 is torn off probably with loss of some notes; some ink seepage and burn-through but generally rather well preserved.
Bibliographical note:
Roth, “Rabbi Menahem Navarra”, Jewish Quarterly Review 15 (1925), 458–60 provides a list of all of Navarra’s epithalamic poem’s known to Roth at the time (no listed is the poem on folio 8).
Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 102.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001857030205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 102 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.
Pagis, “על סוד חתום=A Secret Sealed: Hebrew Baroque Emblem-Riddles from Italy and Holland”, Supplement to Tarbiz (1986), 3-280.
Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 102.
Physical characteristics
Foliation: ii (original fly-leaves; foliated as 1–2) + 26 (foliated as 3–8, [9], 9[=10]–27[=28] + ii (original fly-leaves); modern pencil foliation, upper left recto; folios 18r, 22v–23r, and 25v are blank.
Script: Italian-Sephardic script.
Ms.: width 180mm height 254mm
Binding
Paper wrapper covered with thin vellum overcover; written in black ink on overcover’s upper cover: שירי ר׳ מנחם נווירה : כ׳׳י עצמו; kept in brown slip-case; the whole item is now held in a custom-made box covered with brown cloth.
Vocalisation and cantillation
Most poems are vocalised.
Scribal information
Most likely authograph by Menahem Navarra.
Former owners and annotations
Roth’s ex-libris is attached to upper cover verso; his description of MS Roth 102, cut out from a copy of his printed catalogue, is attached to upper cover of slip-case.
Access and usage
Access
This material is not subject to restrictions under Data Protection or other relevant legislation that might limit access. However, other protections, such as donor conditions or conservation considerations, may still apply where advised.