[Shirim la-ḥatunah shel ha-rofe Yaʿaḳov Gershon ben Mordekhai Yitsḥaḳ Basileʾah ṿe-Raḥel bat Meshulam Bas]. [שירים לחתונה של הרופא יעקב גרשון בן מרדכי יצחק באסיליאה ורחל בת משולם ב׳׳ס]. [Poems in honour of the wedding of physician Jacob Gershon Basilea and Rachel bat Meshulam Bass ].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: [Shirim la-ḥatunah shel ha-rofe Yaʿaḳov Gershon ben Mordekhai Yitsḥaḳ Basileʾah ṿe-Raḥel bat Meshulam Bas]. [שירים לחתונה של הרופא יעקב גרשון בן מרדכי יצחק באסיליאה ורחל בת משולם ב׳׳ס]. [Poems in honour of the wedding of physician Jacob Gershon Basilea and Rachel bat Meshulam Bass ].
Classmark: MS ROTH/114
Creator(s): Noṿairah, Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ (1717-1777)(poet)
Date(s): [c 1753]
Language: Hebrew
Size and medium: 7 leaves : paper, illustrations
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115521
Description
Title supplied by cataloguer.
Variant titles:
Emblem riddle.
Epithalamion.
Shir le-ḥatunah. שיר לחתונה.
The wedding of Jacob Gershom Basilea and Rachel bat Meshulam Bass took place in Verona likely after 1742, as the honorific for the dead is added to the name of Menahem Navarra’s father (see, in honour of the same wedding also MS Roth 729, a ethical miscellany).
In the heading of the first poem, Jacob Gershon Basilea is addressed as “the divine philosopher, the expert physician” (Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 114): ביום חתונתו … ה׳׳ה הפלוסוף האלקי הרופא המובהק כמהח׳׳ר יעקב גרשם במ׳׳ר מרדכי יצחק באזיליאה נר׳׳ו עם ... רחל בת … משלם ב׳׳ש יצ׳׳ו (folio 2r).
Yaʿaḳov Gershon Basilea (יעקב גרשון באזילה)was awarded the Doctor of Medicine degree from the University in Padua around 1735 (see National Library of Israel, ARC. 4* 1537 5 7; NLI, Online Catalogue, system-no. 990034442430205171).
Contents:
1. folio 2r: Poem by יעקב חי חפץ (Yaʿaḳov Ḥai Gentile (Ḥefets)=Jacob Vita Gentilli); opening words: אקרא למרחוק וקול אשמיע.
2. folios 2v–3v: Poem by אהרן חיים בן נתן פינקרלי נר׳׳ו (Aharon Ḥayim ben Natan Pinḳerle=Aaron Hayim Hizqiyah ben Nathan Pincherle); opening words: מה מחזה הזה אשר ראיתי.
3. folio 4: Poem by מנחם בן יצחק נוויירה ז׳׳ל (Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ Noṿairah); opening words: הנוגנין המשוררים זמרו.
4. folio 5: Poem with opening: האל אמת ברא עולם לשבת; signature: עבודת הלוי (Avodat ha-Leṿi).
5. folios 6r–7r: צורת החידה, emblem puzzle with woodcut of man playing a hand-held drum and enigmatic poem by Menahem Navarra; opening words טרם אקנה צורה; with solutions added in cursive script by one puzzle solver; this composition is discussed briefly and listed in Pagis, “על סוד חתום=A Secret Sealed” (see below Bibliographical note).
Additional copies of the first 4 poems (in similar layout) are Ms. K. 107 of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (New York, NY, USA) (National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990000702990205171), and in Ms. Heb. 1814=8 of the NLI (NLI, Online Catalogue, system-no. 990000400270205171).
State of text: Some staining and creasing but relatively well preserved.
Bibliographical note:
Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 114.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001857160205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 114 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), 135, 253, 271 et passim.
Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 114.
Decoration
Folio 6r: Woodcut of a man playing a hand-held drum: צורת החידה (emblem riddle).
Physical characteristics
Foliation: i (foliated as 1) + 6 (foliated as 2–7); modern pencil foliation, upper left recto; folio 7v is blank; first leaf is cancelled.
Ruling: ca. 29 prickings in inner and outer margins.
Script: Italian Hebrew script.
Ms.: width 181mm height 242mm
Binding
Sewn into modern white self-made paper wrapper.
Former owners and annotations
Folios 6r–7r: Solutions added in Italian cursive Hebrew script by one puzzle solver
Roth’s description of MS Roth 114, cut out from a copy of his printed catalogue, is attached to first leaf recto.
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.