[25 letters and documents pertaining to the Jews of Italy, 1662–1852 (originals, drafts and copies)].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: [25 letters and documents pertaining to the Jews of Italy, 1662–1852 (originals, drafts and copies)].
Classmark: MS ROTH/252
Creator(s): Zacuto, Moses ben Mordecai (1620-1697)(rabbi)
Date(s): [1662–1852]
Language: Italian; Hebrew; French
Size and medium: 25 items : paper, illustrations
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115588
Description
Title supplied by cataloguer.
Variant titles:
Igrot u-teʿudot shel Yehude Iṭalyah. אגרות ותעודות של יהודי איטליה.
Mikhtavim. מכתבים.
Heter sheḥiṭah. התר שחיטה.
Shut. שו׳׳ת.
Summary:
25 separate items of different sizes; 14 are in Italian, 10 in Hebrew, and 1 is in French; items are consecutively paginated or foliated in pencil on upper right recto as if bound together (some items are foliated with the same number); one item (folio 13) is a partly printed form.
Many items are letters or documents from or to 18th-century Italian rabbis, like Giuseppe Marini, rabbi of Verona, Yekutiʾel ben Hilel ha-Kohen, rabbi of Mantua, Yishmaʿel ha-Kohen of Mondena, et cetera.
Among the items are:
1 bifolium (folio 1): Letter, 11 June 1782, Mantua, by Consiglio Sacerdoti [Yekutiʾel ben Hilel ha-Kohen (יקותיאל בן הלל הכהן)], rabbi of Mantua] to Giuseppe Marini, Rabbi of Verona, in Italian with some Hebrew.
1 leaf (folio 2): “Avviso”; declaration (פסק), 1801, Modena, by Ishmael Cohen of Modena (ישמעאל הכהן ממודינה) permitting rice on Passover on the authority of אי׳׳ש ג׳׳ר, in Italian with some Hebrew.
1 small piece of paper (folio 3): Note, 18 September 1789, Verona, from Giuseppe Marini, Rabbi of Verona, in Italian.
1 bifolium (folio 3-4): Letter, 26 August 1783, Gradisca (Gorizia), from Abram V[ita] Reggio (father of Isacco Samuel Reggio) to his bride Malchinei (Malchine) Morpurga, Gradisca, in Italian.
1 leaf (folio 4; mounted on modern leaf): Letter, 1791, Verona, from Giuseppe Marini, Rabbi of Verona, in Italian
1 small piece of paper (folio 5; mounted on modern leaf): Autograph receipt of Moses ben Mordekhai Zacuto, 22 Nisan 5422 (11 April 1662) (Roth, “Catalogue”, no. 252 dates the receipt erroneously to 1622), in Italian.
1 leaf (pages 6-7): Letter, 10 September 1764, Vercelli, from a daughter to her Mother, in Italian with some Hebrew.
1 bifolium (folios 9–10): Accounting list concerning a confraternity in the Jewish community [in Sienna] mentioning the community leaders (פרנסים) Sciealtiel Pessaro de Moises Cabibbe.
1 leaf (pages 11-12): List of representatives of the Ponentine community (“Nation Ponentina”), without date, [Venice?], in Italian.
1 piece of paper (pages 14–15): Notes about history of the Jews in Avignon, in French.
4 leaves (folios 16–20): Drafts of letters by Giacopo Pardo (Jacob Pardo), in Italian; 1 draft addressed to his brother “Caro Fratello”; 1 draft dated to 20 June 1837, Padua.
3 leaves (folios 23–25): On the calendar computation of the year 590 (1829–1830), in Hebrew.
4 leaves (folios 28–31): ספור הנס; an account of a trivial escape and commemorative prayers, in Hebrew.
1 leaf (folio 32): Sheḥiṭah license (התר שחיטה) for Shelomoh Ḥay Saʿadun (שלמה חי סעדון), Pitigliano 1841, in Hebrew.
4 leaves (folios 33–36; stitched): Responsum (שאלה ותשובה) concerning the selling of seats in the women section of the synagogue (ב׳׳ה של נשים) in the community of Senigallia, in Hebrew.
5 leaves (folios 38–42): Letter, 16 May 1852, Split (Spalato), by Abramo Mussafia (Adolfo Mussafia?) to the Rappresentanza della Comunita Israelitica di Torino (leadership of the Jewish community of Turin); concerning Jewish education; superscription: “Spettabile commissione pegli studi delle comunita Israelitiche de Piemonte in Torino”, in Italian; with remnants of 3 red wax seals.
State of text: Ink seepage, stained and worn, frayed edges with some loss of text.
Bibliographical note:
Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 252.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001858190205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 252 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.
Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 252.
Measurements in Physical characteristics (see below) refer to portfolio in which items are held.
Decoration
Woodcut of Venetian Lion as head-piece (folio 13); remnants of wax seals (folio 42).
Physical characteristics
Script: Latin cursive script; Italian cursive Hebrew script.
Ms. documents: width 206mm height 264mm
Binding
Held in a cream portfolio.
Scribal information
Multiple hands.
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.