[29 fragments and items from Genizah].
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: [29 fragments and items from Genizah].
Classmark: MS ROTH/723
Creator(s): Manasseh ben Israel (1604-1657)(author); Alfasi, Isaac ben Jacob (1013-1103)(author)
Date(s): [no date]
Language: Hebrew; Aramaic; Judaeo-Arabic
Size and medium: 28 items : paper; 1 item : vellum
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115746
Description
Title derived from Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 723.
Variant titles:
Ḥidushim ʿal ha-Talmud. חידושים על התלמוד.
Tefilot. תפילות.
Parshanut. פרשנות.
Ḳameʿa. קמיע.
Ḳeṭaʿim min ha-Zohar. קטעים מן הזוהר.
Origins of the fragments:
It is not fully certain from which genizah or genizot the fragments classified as MS Roth 723/1–29 are originating. Roth states in his catalogue description only that they are “fragments from Genizah” (see Roth, “Catalogue”, no. 723).
In the 1960s, Roth sent eighteen items classified as “MS Roth 723” to be microfilmed on behalf of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the National Library of Israel; these items are now classified as MS Roth 723/1, 723/2, 723/4, 723/5, 723/7, 723/8, 723/9, 723/10, 723/13, 723/15, 723/16, 723/17, 723/18, 723/19, 723/20, 723/21, 723/22, and 723/24. Nine of the items were designated by the NLI as “Cairo Genizah fragments”.
In 2005, 29 fragments were considered to be part of MS Roth 723. Digitisations of all of them were ingested into the database of the “Friedberg Genizah Project” (MS Roth 723/23 is only partly digitised).
Except MS Roth 723/29, which is printed, all items are manuscripts.
Contents:
MS Roth 723/1 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 1): 1 leaf : paper; 220mm x 174mm; 18th century, Italian Hebrew script: Commentary on Psalms 71:18–22 (Binder’s waste).
MS Roth 723/2 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 5): 1 bifolium : paper; 176mm x 112mm; 18th century; Ashkenazic script; damaged with loss of text: Novellae about the Talmud : בבא מציעא ב-ד (in folio [1r]: ע׳ מהר׳׳ם ומהרש׳׳א).
MS Roth 723/3 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 bifolium: paper; 193mm x 122 mm; 17th century?; Sephardic script; folio [2] is blank: Benedictions for circumcision ceremony, including אשר קידש ידיד מבטן.
MS Roth 723/4 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 6): 1 leaf : paper; 184mm x 119mm; 18th century; Ashkenazic script (most likely leaf from same item as MS Roth 723/5; also very similar script to 723/2): Commentary to ספר תורת הבית (Sefer Torat ha-bait) by Shelomoh ibn Adret (הרשב׳׳א); on verso: writing exercises in Cyrillic cursive minuscule.
MS Roth 723/5 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 2): 1 leaf : paper; 182mm x 117mm; 18th century; Ashkenazic script (most likely leaf from same item as MS Roth 723/4; also very similar script to 723/2): Commentary to ספר תורת הבית by Salomon ibn Adret.
MS Roth 723/6 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : paper; 98mm x 71mm; 15th century?; Sephardic script (North-Africa?): Sidur: שחרית.
MS Roth 723/7 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 17): 1 fragment : paper; 98mm x 71mm; square Hebrew script; vocalised: part of Torah; Leviticus, 4:2 and 5:17–18.
MS Roth 723/8 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 18): 1 fragment : paper; 104mm x 69mm ; square Hebrew script; vocalised: part of Torah; Deuteronomy 13:6-7, 13: 9-11.
MS Roth 723/9 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 14): 1 fragment : paper; 128mm x 144mm; square Hebrew script; vocalised; much of the text is faded: Seliḥah?
MS Roth 723/10 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 10): 1 fragment : paper; 80mm x 108mm; square Hebrew script: Leaf from prayer book with נשמת כל חי (different version than printed Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Yemenite versions).
MS Roth 723/11 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : paper; 158mm x 107mm; square Hebrew script: Leaf from Sidur with עדון עולם.
MS Roth 723/12 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : paper; 128mm x 82mm; Italian cursive Hebrew script; verso is blank: Hymn: אנה ה׳ הושיעה נא.
MS Roth 723/13 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 4): 1 bifolium : paper; 114mm x 85mm; Italian cursive Hebrew script; folio [1r] is blank: Notes from the Zohar (with one reference to Shulḥan Arukh); notes for sermon?.
MS Roth 723/14 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : paper; 149mm x 82mm; Mughrabi cursive Hebrew script.
MS Roth 723/15 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 9): 1 small fragment : paper; 109mm x 100mm.
MS Roth 723/16 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 8): 1 small fragment : paper; 103mm x 143mm; most of the text is faded.
MS Roth 723/17 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 16): 1 fragment : paper; 103mm x 69mm; in Judaeo-Arabic: Part of a historical(?) text mentioning אצטמבול and מדינת סאם; on verso, in different script, the name יעקב is mentioned.
MS Roth 723/18 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 15): 1 fragment : paper; 120mm x 86mm: Part of Yom Kippur service: אזמר גבורות ascribed to יוסי בן יוסי (Yosi ben Yosi), beginning אתה כוננתה עולם מראש.
MS Roth 723/19 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 11): 1 fragment : paper; 128mm x 80mm: Part of הלכות הרי׳׳ף (חולין יג) (commentary on masekhet Ḥulin 13 by Yitsḥaḳ ben Yaʿaḳov Alfasi).
MS Roth 723/20 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 13): 1 small fragment : paper; 67mm x 99mm: Part of piyuṭ.
MS Roth 723/21: (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 12): 1 small fragment : paper; 107mm x 63mm; in Judaeo-Arabic.
MS Roth 723/22: (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 3): 1 bifolium : paper; 164mm x 115mm; Eastern Hebrew script; folio [2] is blank: מדרש חסרות ויתרות בפרשיות התפלין, begins: מצאתי כתוב בספר הרב מגן אברהם אלו חסירות ויתירות שצריך הכותיב תפלין ומזוזות, and ends: עד כאן מצאתי כתוב בספר עטרת זקינים שהפא משם הרמב׳׳ם ז׳׳ל.
MS Roth 723/23 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI record; FGP project displays only 1 bifolium): 5 leaves : paper; 149mm x 82mm; Italian cursive Hebrew script; apparently written from left to right; no foliation; incomplete; Roman numerals and paragraph signs are used to designate chapters: Chapters XIII.מ׳׳ז (middle)–XVII.ס׳׳א of ספר מקוה ישראל (Sefer Miḳṿeh Yiśraʾel) by מנשה בן ישראל (Menasheh ben Yiśraʾel); no great differences between between manuscript and print according to cursory comparison.
MS Roth 723/24 (numbered in NLI-microfilm as 7): 1 fragment : paper; 156mm x 94mm; Italian cursive Hebrew script; verso is blank: Part of hymn.
MS Roth 723/25 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 small fragment : paper; 76mm x 69mm; fading of ink with substantial loss of text.
MS Roth 723/26 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : paper; 170mm x 108mm; vocalised; verso is blank: Prayer and benediction before putting on the prayer shaw (talit), beginning: לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה … הריני מתעטף גופי בציצית.
MS Roth 723/27 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 fragment : paper; 126mm x 92mm: Copy of the introduction to the printed version of משניות : עם פירוש כף נחת (Mishnayot : ʿim perush Kaf naḥat) by יצחק בן שלמה גבאי (Yitsḥaḳ ben Shelomoh Gabai); first printed in Venice, 1609.
MS Roth 723/28 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): 1 leaf : vellum; 122mm x 70mm; Eastern Hebrew script: Amulet?; partly in Judaeo-Arabic.
MS Roth 723/29 (not part of microfilm and not described in NLI catalogue): Printed; 1 leaf : paper; 169mm x 113mm: From Sidur: Prayers for Purim followed by Psalm for Passover.
State of text: Most fragments are fragile; some suffer from fading or corrosion of the ink.
Nota bene: There are further uncatalogued genizah fragments in the Roth collection (Box D) which are described by Roth as:“Fragments from a North African Genizah, including Letters and Responsa, Liturgy (all Poetry), Judaeo-Arabic, Book Fragments, [and] Miscellaneous, Acquired Jerusalem 1959” (Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 723 [appendix]).
On one of the uncatalogued fragments, see Cynthia M Crews, “A Possibly Italianate Judaeo-Spanish MS”, Scritti sull'ebraismo in memoria di Guido Bedarida. (Florence, 1966).
Bibliographical note:
Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 723.
National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001860530205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of 18 item fo MS Roth 723, made on behalf of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the NLI during the 1960s (see above note on Origin of the fragments).
Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 723.
Friedberg Genizah Project (FGP): https://fgp.genizah.org/ (all 29 fragments are digitized; but 3 leaves of MS Roth 723/23 are missing).
Physical characteristics
Script: Italian cursive Hebrew script; Ashkenazic script; Sephardic script.
Vocalisation and cantillation
MS Roth 723/7, 723/8, 723/9, 723/26 and 723/29 are vocalised.
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.