Sub-project: Hebrew Manuscript Library of Switzerland
September 2018
Status: In progress
Financed by: Susanne & René Braginsky Foundation
Project Director: Dr. Justine Isserles
Description: Several hundred Hebrew manuscripts are preserved in Switzerland today in various private and public collections. The Hebrew Manuscript Library in Switzerland project aims to shed light on a selection of medieval and pre-modern Hebrew manuscripts from the cities of Basel, Bern, Geneva, St Gallen and Zurich, chosen to be highlighted predominately for their rarity in content, but also for their codicological, palaeographical and decorative features. The digitization and scholarly descriptions of these manuscripts on e-codices will undoubtedly help to establish the importance of these precious witnesses from Swiss collections, many of which have been unacknowledged until now. This project is generously supported by the Susanne & René Braginsky Foundation
All Libraries and Collections
This small-format handbook about ritual slaughter is from 14th century Italy. It contains the laws of shekhitah (ritual slaughter) and of treifot (possible defects of kosher animals) by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anaw from Rome (13th century). These laws are followed by excerpts of laws on shekhitah from the Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh, a legal work on the laws governing Jewish households by Salomon ben Abraham ben Adret from Barcelona (1235-1310).
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This elegant illuminated copy of the Sefer Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) by Moses Maimonides was produced in Christian Spain in 1292. It is a copy of the Hebrew translation of the work made in 1204 by Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon (1150-1230). The manuscript arrived in Italy either after the Jewish persecutions of 1391 or the ensuing expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula in 1492. It was in the possession of the renowned Bolognese Sforno family before reappearing in the early 17th century in the hands of the Italian Jewish apostate and inquisitor Renato da Modena. After more than a century, the manuscript reappeared in the possession of Johann Caspar Ulrich (1705-1768) a Protestant theologian, who donated it in 1762 to the Bibliotheca Ecclesia Carolina, the chapter library of the reformed Grossmünster church of Zurich. In 1835, when the chapter was dissolved, the books and manuscripts of the chapter library became part of the new Cantonal Library in Zurich. Finally in 1917, the holdings of this library, among others, formed the new Zentralbibliothek, where the manuscript still remains today.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
The Sefer ha-Shorashim by R. David ben Joseph Kimhi (1160-1235) is extant in numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts and fragments of diverse origins (Sephardi, Italian, Ashkenazi, Provençal), several printed editions and Latin translations, all testifying to the incomparable popularity of the work throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. However, the great significance of the Sefer ha-Shorashim of the Zentralbibliothek, dated to the 14th century, lies within the fact that it is the only preserved copy of Byzantine origin known today.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This Italian manuscript is a manual containing the laws of ritual slaughter (Shekhitah) and forbidden foods (Treifah), taken from the Babylonian Talmud tractate Ḥulin. These laws have been commented on by two medieval rabbinical authorities, included in the manuscript. The first is Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anav of Rome (Rivevan, d. after 1280), whose commentary to the laws makes reference to customs practiced by the Jewish community of Rome, such as an important ruling taken by the elders of Rome in 1280 at the Bozzechi Synagogue, which has been edited in the description. The second author, whose work is partially copied in the manual, is the leading Talmud authority for the Jewish communities in 11th century North Africa and Spain, Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (Rif, 1013-1103). The first three chapters of a commentary on the Babylonian Talmud tractate Ḥulin, taken from his magnum opus entitled the Sefer ha-Halakhot, have been copied into this manual. This latter work played a fundamental role in the development of halakha and is the most important legal code prior to the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides (Rambam, 1135-1204).
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This 14th and 15th century Askhenazi miscellany is a vademecum for personal use, destined to a scholar and composed mainly of halakhic material on ritual slaughtering, reflecting the decisions of the most important rabbinical authorities from 13th to 15th century Ashkenaz. There are also numerous treatises and tables on the Jewish and Christian calendars scattered throughout the manuscript. In addition, there is a selection of liturgical and mystical commentaries, as well as excerpts of ethical, Midrashic and Talmudic literature. The margins of the manuscript are filled with small notes and texts on medical recipes and magical incantations for various occasions in Hebrew and in Old West Yiddish.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
The Sefer Mitsvot Qatan or “Small Book of Precepts” is a halakhic compendium, which also includes ethical, aggadic and homiletical material, written ca. 1276-1277 by Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil, one of the great codifiers and French Tosafists of the 13th century. The work is also called Sheva Ammudei ha-Golah or the “Seven Pillars of the Exile”, due to its division into seven sections, corresponding to the seven days a week, encouraging its daily study. This work is an abridged version of the Sefer Mitsvot Gadol (Semag), another halakhic compendium completed in 1247 by Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (1st half 13th c.). Consequently, with a much more accessible legal code, the Sefer Mitsvot Qatan achieved widespread popularity, receiving recognition from rabbinical authorities from Franco-Germany. This copy includes glosses by R. Isaac’s main disciple, namely Perets ben Elijah of Corbeil (died 1297).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The kabbalistic work Sefer ha-Orah or "Gates of Light" is one of the major texts of Jewish mysticism written in thirteenth century Spain, where Kabbalah flourished. It is considered to be the most articulate work on kabbalistic symbolism and its content provides a comprehensive explanation of the Names of God and their designation within the ten sephirot or attributes/emanations, through which Eyn Sof (the Infinite) reveals Itself and continuously creates both the physical and metaphysical realms. The work is organized into ten chapters, one for each sephirah.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This well-preserved pocket-sized Siddur, enclosing the statutory prayers of the Jewish liturgical year (daily, sabbath and new month prayers, Ḥanukkah, Purim, Pessaḥ, Shavuot, Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret), is a precious witness of the production of these small prayer books for personal use in 15th- century Italy.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This 14th century Sephardic Siddur for personal use is composed of the daily and sabbath prayers, as well as a text on the interpretation of dreams. Moreover, there are additions for the prayers of the new month and the festivals of Hanukkah, Purim and Pessah, the latter of which has been followed by the Haggadah, read at the Seder itself. However, the importance of this Siddur lies within the presence of some instructions on the structure of the Seder in Judeo-Spanish, or more precisely, medieval Castilian.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
Beautifully illuminated Maḥzor for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur according to the Ashkenazi rite. It is however possible to surmise that this manuscript was produced in Poland during the 14th century, as its script resembles that of contemporary Hebrew manuscript fragments of maḥzorim produced in Poland. This manuscript of middle-sized format, enclosing several ornate initial words and illuminated frames, contains the liturgy for the High Holidays of Rosh ha-Shana and Yom Kippur, including many liturgical poems (piyyutim) displayed in several columns, and was destined for public use by the precentor (ḥazan) at the synagogue. However, the particularity of this maḥzor lies in the presence of a woman’s name, גננא כהנת (Jeanne Kohenet), inserted within the painted letters of a decorated monumental initial word. She was probably the patron of this manuscript and either the daughter or wife of a cohen. The manuscript is incomplete at the beginning and at the end.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This small format siddur for personal use can be characterized as a vademecum for Jewish religious and communal life. It is divided into three parts, relative to liturgy, Jewish ceremonies, and a last miscellaneous one. The latter includes, among other significant texts, a rare and intriguing list of the names of books and incipits of chapters of all 24 Books of the Bible, with the Hebrew and Latin names, spelled out in Hebrew characters.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This composite manuscript by three different scribes encloses two textual units which were bound together. The volume is structured by a liturgical section, according to the Ashkenazi rite and a halakhic section. The manuscript Heidenheim 145 is one of many compendia of its genre, consisting of an assortment of texts which reflect the religious and talmudo-centric orientation of the intellectual elite of medieval Franco-Germany.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This almost complete Italian 15th century paper copy is composed of Books II to VIII of the Hebrew translation of Averroes’ Middle Commentary on the Physics by Aristotle. The learned Andalusian polymath, jurist and imam, Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd – or Averroes (1126-1198), known as the Commentator, devoted his entire life on restoring Aristotle’s original teachings, and writing commentaries on nearly all of Aristotle’s works. He was therefore considered one of the most influential philosophic authorities of the Middle Ages, not only among the Latin Scholastics, but particularly among Jews, for the understanding of Aristotelian science through the Hebrew translations of his commentaries. The Middle Commentary is the least known of Averroes’ commentaries on the Physics and exists today in two complete Hebrew translations from the Arabic and one partial 16th century Hebrew-to-Latin translation. The Hebrew translation found in Ms. Heid. 166 is that of the Provençal Jewish philosopher Qalonymos ben Qalonymos (1286-d. after 1328), entitled Bi᷾ ur ha-Shema’, and was the most widely copied version of the Hebrew translations.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript is divided into two separate textual units, which were both written by two different scribes in Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. Ms. Heid. 192A is a small booklet, copied by one hand in 1642 and 1687, which consists of a collection of customs and anecdotes on Rabbi Isaac B. Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (Arizal, 1534-1572) and his entourage, as well as a mystical protective prayer to be recited in the morning and evening, followed by portions of biblical readings for the days of the week, and ending with a selection of penitential prayers (Seliḥot). Ms. Heid. 192B is a miscellaneous collection of biblical midrashim, prognostication literature, tales, Alphabeta de Ben Sira, Talmudic Aggadot.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Illuminated biblical and ethical miscellany produced in Italy in 1322. This small format manuscript, with an exquisite 16th-century white leather binding blindstamped with the coat of arms of the city of Zurich, is divided into two groups of texts. The first section is made up of the biblical texts of the Five Megillot, accompanied by three commentaries on them, composed by the great medieval scholars, Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), Avraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Qara. The second section is of ethical nature and consists in the Mishna tractate of the Pirqei Avot or Ethics of the Fathers and its commentaries. The first is an anonymous one ; the second is entitled Shemonah Peraqim by Maimonides, as translated by Samuel ibn Tibbon, and the third is a commentary by Rashi placed in the margins of the latter. In addition, this handbook is interspersed with aggadic, midrashic, mystical and philosophical material.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This pocket format 15th century Hebrew Book of Psalms from Ashkenaz, is representative of private use hand copies, which are more seldom preserved in separate textual units rather than incorporated in the Hagiographs section of Hebrew bibles and liturgical manuscripts. Nonetheless, this genre of biblical literature is already attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Additionaly, Ms Or. 159 contains 149 Psalms, rather than the canonical 150, which is only one among many configurations found in early and late medieval Hebrew manuscripts, enclosing between 143 and 151 Psalms. Lastly, two medieval Hebrew manuscript fragments of an Esther Scroll have been reused as flyleaves for the 16th century leather tooled binding, protecting this little exquisite Book of Psalms.
Online Since: 06/13/2019