Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes 146
Description by Yael Okun, Jerusalem, for e-codices 2013.
Manuscript title: Midrash Tanhuma (Leviticus-Deuteronomy)
Place of origin: Orient?
Date of origin: 14th? cen.
Support: Written on paper.
Extent:
590 pp. (there is [probably] one leaf lacking at the beginning and one at the end; as well as two leaves between pp. 376 and 377, and one leaf between pp. 572 and 573 [=total of 5 missing leaves]) ;
Format: 12.5 x 17.5 cm
Collation: Quires of 5 bifolia each. Signatures in Hebrew letters at heads of quires. Leaf catchwords appear on verso.
Condition:
Page layout:
one column, 17-19 lines per column.
The device used for line justification was by inserting graphic fillers in the shape of two short diagonal strokes at the end of lines or exceeding into the margin by writing diagonally downwards one word or more between the lines.
The device used for line justification was by inserting graphic fillers in the shape of two short diagonal strokes at the end of lines or exceeding into the margin by writing diagonally downwards one word or more between the lines.
Writing and hands:
- Oriental semi-cursive script
- On many pages (thirty times: on pp. 5, 46, 144, 203, 213, 243, 266, 271, 272, 286, 306, 307, 314, 321, 323, 325, 327, 358, 366, 385, 387, 393, 402, 412, 450, 472, 485, 499, 513, 514, 575, 578, and 585) the copyist singled out the name “Moshe” - in acrostics at the beginning of the lines.
Additions: Added entries:
Moses (copyist)
Dayan, Isaac ben Isaiah (owner)
Batish, Jacob ben Moses, ha-Levi (owner)
Moses (copyist)
Dayan, Isaac ben Isaiah (owner)
Batish, Jacob ben Moses, ha-Levi (owner)
Binding:
At an unknown time, the binding was restored. The original 14th or 15th century binding with blind embossing was partially reused and is probably made of morocco leather. The embossing features an outer frame consisting of four lines and vines with grapes, which surround five gilded floral ornaments.
Contents:
-
Midrash. Aggadah
The Midrash text includes:
For the work itself and its various versions, see M. Bregman, The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature (NJ, 2003) (heb.). Bregman (p. 25) identifies this manuscript as an exemplar of the “printed Tanhuma” version, as opposed to the version edited by S. Buber in Vilna, 1885. But see Sassoon, pp. 38ff, for differences between the ms. and both the Buber as well as the “printed” versions.
Microfilm copies on films nos. 9301 and 39877, as well as Photostat 4247, in the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts [IMHM] of the National Library of Israel [NLI] in Jerusalem.
Provenance of the manuscript: Owners’ records: “Isaac son of … Dayan (p. 3, p. 375 top left); “Jacob Batish ha-Levi, son of Moses Batish ha-Levi (p. 341).
Acquisition of the manuscript:
- Previous owner: David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), ex-libris (bookplate) on the front paste-down. See Sassoon, D.S., Ohel Dawid: Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts... (Oxford 1932), p. 38-47 [=ms. 597].
- The manuscript was also deposited (i.e. given on temporary loan) at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem, whereupon it was given the ms signature 8°5836.
Bibliography:
- Auction catalogue description: Catalogue of thirty-eight highly important Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts, from the collection formed by the late David Solomon Sassoon ... Sotheby & Co. at Baur au Lac Hotel, Zurich, on Wednesday 5th November, 1975, lot 20.