[28 Responsa, letters, and documents pertaining to the Jews of Italy, 17th–19th century (originals, copies and drafts); including an autograph letter in Italian by Isaac Lampronti to Manouel Redi, 1698].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: [28 Responsa, letters, and documents pertaining to the Jews of Italy, 17th–19th century (originals, copies and drafts); including an autograph letter in Italian by Isaac Lampronti to Manouel Redi, 1698].
Classmark: MS ROTH/305
Creator(s): (author); Benjamin ben Eliezer ha-Kohen Vitale of Reggio (1651-1730)(author); Basan, Yeshaʻyahu ben Yiśraʼel Ḥizḳiyahu (1739)(author); (author); (author); (author); Noṿairah, Menaḥem ben Yitsḥaḳ (1717-1777)(author); (author); Lampronti, Isaac Hezekiah ben Samuel (1679-1756)(author)
Date(s): [17th–19th century]
Language: Hebrew; Aramaic; Italian
Size and medium: 28 items : paper
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115627
Description
English title derived from Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 305.
Variant titles:
Sheʾelot u-teshuvot. שאלות ותשובות.
Sheʾelot u-tshuvot.
Shut (Sh. u-t.). שו׳׳ת.
Igrot. אגרות.
Igron. אגרון.
Teʿudot. תעודות.
Summary:
Item contains a collection of 28 responsa, letters, and documents from the 17th–19th century which were probably bound in the 20th century; numbered in pencil, likely by Roth, as I–XIV, XVIII–XXVI, XXVI–XXX (item XV–XVII, presumably foliated as 36–39, are missing, see below foliation); items are in Hebrew with the exceptions of item VII (in Hebrew with some Italian in Latin script), item XXVIII (in Italian in Latin script), item XXIX (in Hebrew with Italian in Latin script), and item XXX (in Italian in Latin script).
The collection contains, among others:
Item I and II (folios [1]–[3] and 5–12): Responsa, according to Roth, possibly by Binyamin Kohen Vitale of Reggio (בנימין הכהן).
Item III (folios 13–14): Responsum by Yeshaʿyahu ben Yiśraʾel Ḥizḳiyah Bassani (ישעיהו בן ישראל חזקיה באסן), rabbi in Cento, Padua, Ferrara, and Reggio.
Item IV (folios 15–17): Responsum by Eliyahu ben Mosheh ha-Kohen (אליהו בן משה הכהן); the author is probably identical with the 18th-century rabbi in Livorno (see Mortara, Indice alfabetico dei Rabbini (Padua, 1886), 14) (see also MS Roth *78 which is likely by the same creator).
Item VI (folio 21): Haskamah in verses, Tamuz 557 (1797), by Ḥayim Avraham Yiśraʾel of Ancona(?) (חיים אברהם ישראל), for Sefer Kohelet Yaʿaḳov by Yaʿaḳov ben Daṿid Pardo (יעקב בן דוד פארדו); ספר קהלת יעקב was printed with Yiśraʾel’s approbation in Venice in 544 (1783 or 1784); the approbation was originally dated to Tamuz 553; the scribe likely made a mistake copying the chronogram.
Item [VIII] (folios [25]–26): Responsum by Yaʿaḳov Forṭe (יעקב פורטי), Elul 498 [1738], Padua.
Item [X] (folio 29): Letter from Avraham Yonah (אברהם יונה), [1796?], Venice, probably to Yaʿaḳov Pardo (יעקב פארדו). The letter concerns the difficulties in the printing of an unnamed book, most likely Yaʿaḳov Pardo’s ספר אפי זוטרי of which Avraham Yonah was the corrector and editor. Api zuṭri was published in Venice in 557 (1796 or 1797).
Item [XI] (folio 30): Letter from Daṿid [Samuel Pardo?] (דוד שמואל פארדו), 11 Adar 580 (1819 or 1820); Roth reads the chronogram as indicating the year 574.
Item XIII (folios 32–33): Eulogy (הספד) for Yosef Daṿid Bassani of Ferrara (דוד יוסף באסן חכם מפירארה), parashat Be-haʿalothekha 587 (1827).
Item XIV (folio 34r): Letter by Yaʿaḳov Abohab (יעקב אבוהב) and Yitsḥaḳ Abohab (יצחק אבוהב), 13 Adar I 410 (1650), to community leaders.
Item XVIII (folios 40–44): Correspondence between Yosef ben Shimʿon Marini and Menaḥem Navarra, 5 Kisleṿ 516 (1755)–12 Marḥeshṿan 5519 (1758), Verona, copied by Yosef Marini; heading (folio 40): העתק האיגרות ששלח לי רבי ומורי כמהר׳׳ר מנחם נוויירה והתשובות שנתתי לו .
Item XX (folios 46–47): Letter from Yeʾudah Shemuʾel Ashkenazi (יאודה שמואל אשכנזי), 572 [1831 or 1832], Senigallia, to Daṿid Ḥai (Vita) Recanaṭi (דוד חי ריקאנאטי) in Pesaro?.
Item XXIII (folio 51–52): Letter from the messenger of a yeshivah in Jerusalem, Refaʾel Yaʿaḳov Maṭalon (רפאל יעקב מאטאלון) to the parnasim in Ragusa introducing his co-messenger Yaʿaḳov Daṿid Yeḳutiʾel ha-Kohen (יעקב דוד יקותיאל הכהן).
Item XXVI (folio 56): Begging letter on behalf of Ṭovah (טובה), widow of Natan Ḥayim Ashkenazi (נתן חיים אשכנזי), Verona, 14 Marḥeshṿan 598 (1837).
Item XXVI[I] (folio 57): Document concerning an inheritance, 14 Siṿan 473 [1713], Verona, signed by Menasheh ben Yaʿaḳov (מנשה בן יעקב) and Shelomoh Leṿi Morṭera (שלמה לוי מורטירא).
Item XXVII[I] (folio 59): Responsum mainly in Hebrew with Italian in Latin script, 3 Av 558 (1798), Ancona, by Angelo Rafael di Viterbo.
Item IXXX [=XXX] folios (62–63): Responsum mainly in Hebrew with some Italian in Latin script, from Shelomoh ben Yiśraʿel Ḥizḳiyah Basan, Verona, 9 Iyar 736 (1736), maybe to Benjamin Cohen of Reggio.
Item XXX[I] (folios 64–65): Letter in Italian in Latin script, 6 February 1698, Venice, from Isac Lampronti to Manouel Redi, Venice.
State of text: Ink seepage; worn and mutilated with a few small pieces of text rubbed illegible or missing; Item XXII is damaged and felting; item underwent conservation work.
Bibliographical note:
Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 305.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-Item 990001858630205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 305 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. 305.
Physical characteristics
Foliation: ii (i is paste-down) + 61 (28 bound-with items foliated consecutively as [1]–[4], 5–35, 40–65) + ii (ii is paste-down); modern pencil foliation, upper left recto; many pages are blank.
Script: Italian cursive Hebrew script; Sephardic cursive script; Latin cursive script.
Ms. documents: width 205mm height 267mm
Binding
20th-century(?) quarter brown leather with brown cloth over boards; spine is gilt-lettered with "Letters and Responses. M.S." and שו׳׳ת (similar binding as MS Roth 303).
Scribal information
Written by multiple hands.
Former owners and annotations
Pencil annotations in Roth's hand.
The bookplate for “The Cecil Roth Collection”, which was designed in a collaboration between Roth and the University of Leeds, is attached to the front paste-down.
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.