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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Gaster Hebrew MS 1482

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • Gaster Hebrew MS 1482
Biblissima authority file
Language
  • Hebrew
  • Aramaic
Title
    • Sefer ha-Peli'ah (ספר הפליאה | Book of Wonder)
    • Mafteah pesuke Tanakh (מפתח פסוקי תנ"ך | Index of biblical verses)
    • Mafteah me-Razal (מפתח מרז"ל | Index of rabbinic passages)
    • Mafteah inyanim (מפתח עניינים | Index of subjects)
    • Sefer shittufe shemot (ספר שיתופי שמות | Book of homonyms)
    • see more
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    198 ff. (ii+198) Leaf height: 292 mm, width: 220 mm.
    Binding:

    Brown leather binding with blind tooled decoration in squares and diamonds on boards. Boards made of several layers of paper.


    Decoration:

    Kabbalistic manuscript with several pen drawings and diagrams illustrating the text. The function of these diagrams is to create a visual representation of abstract portions of the text to help the reader improve their understanding of it.

    Folio 1a: The initial words are bordered by an ink four-layer frame filled with wavy pen lines.
    Folios 57b-59b: Many initial words are decorated with an ink-drawn line with small circles on both ends.


    Folio 47a: A diagram illustrating the text preceding them on 47a which ends with the following description (lines 16-20): '[..] and see with your own eyes that this is the upper world, the world of the intellect (עולם השכל) which is all transparent, the circle of holiness, and the holy of holies. And around the circle of the (planetary) spheres are drawn the great serpents (קנינים) created by God during the six days of creation. And they are tail next to head on one side and tail next to head on the other side. And you should know that the sefirot are above the throne and the throne is above the four hayyot (living creatures) and the hayyot are above the (planetary) circles and their names are: Man, Ox, Eagle, Lion.' The first diagram is headed by the caption ‘These are the three Hekhalot’ [ואלא שלש היכלות]. There follows an abstract scheme filled in by shaped script, organized according to the structure of the Hekhalot. On top a throne-like shape inscribed by the first Sefirah Keter Elyon with the Kisse ha-Kavod beneath, Hokhmah and Binah at its base.
    Folio 47b: Diagram of ten concentric circles surrounded by the giant serpents head to tail, as described in the text (see folio 47a). The circles are described as follows (from the centre of the periphery): sphere of the earth (ארץ); sphere of the moon (לבנה); sphere of Mercury (כוכב); sphere of Venus (נוגה); sphere of the sun (חמה); sphere of Mars (מאדים); sphere of Jupiter (צדק); sphere of Saturn (שבתאי); sphere of the 12 constellations (מזלות); sphere of the intellects (גלגל השכלים).
    Folio 48a: Diagram of the Hekhalot, showing at the top two concentric circles with a smaller circle beneath. The upper circle is divided into four parts, inscribed רקיע and ערבות; the ‘walls’ of the Hekhalot are described in the outer circle; the inner circle represents the throne, composed of precious stones: ברקת, גחלית, מרגלית, ספיר. The second diagram is a circle subdivided into twelve segments each of which is inscribed by a temurah (letter permutation) of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. The diagram is headed by the caption אלו הם שנים עשר גבולי אלכסונות.
    Folio 48b: Another Kabbalistic drawing consisting of nine concentric circles.
    Folio 82a: Kabbalistic diagram.


    Folio iia: Remnant of ornamental floral decoration in top-right corner.
    Folio iib: Remnants of ornamental floral decoration in the top right and top left corners. The initial words ספר הקנה are decorated with an ornamental ink line above the words. Ink drawing of a bird laying eggs.
    Folio 123a: End of paragraph decorated with a zig-zag line.
    Folio 195b: The text heading is bordered by an ink three-layer frame filled with wavy pen lines.


    Acquisition:
    Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
    Layout:
    Long line or two columns with between maximum 58 written lines
    Script:
    Sephardi semi-cursive script.
    Data Source(s):
    Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, description of decorations by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri, Renate Smithuis and Nienke Valk.
    Subject(s):
    Cabala; Commandments (Judaism); Jewish sermons, Hebrew; Mysticism; Mysticism Judaism; Jewish law; Dictionaries
    Abstract:

    Seventeenth-century Hebrew codex containing the Kabbalistic text Sefer ha-Peli'ah ("Book of Wonder"). Folios ia-iib contain references to the Sefer ha-Kanah. Many Kabbalists used Sefer ha-Kanah to refer to both the Sefer ha-Peli'ah and the Sefer ha-Kanah. The texts were apparently written by the same anonymous Kabbalist toward the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth. In this manuscript numerous marginal notes accompany Sefer ha-Peli'ah. The three indices that follow the text were put together in relation to this particular manuscript by the seventeenth-century rabbi Samuel Garmizan. Most likely, therefore, Samuel Garmizan was the copyist of this manuscript. Another indication is that the last four smaller leaves of the codex contain Sefer shittufe shemot by the same Samuel. That text is a short dictionary with homonyms to aid preachers. The front and back paste-downs include two conjoined leaves of Maimonides' Book of commandments.


    Foliation:

    Hebrew foliation at the top outer corner of side a of each folio from 1 [א] to 190 [קץ].


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Paper
    Provenance:
    Two paper labels on spine: top one with handwritten "ס' הקנה / וכ'"; bottom one with number 1482.
    Folio ia: Paper label with note reading "〚No. 22〛 / ספר הקנה ירושלמי" and several notes in Arabic and Hebrew.
    Folio ib: several notes in Arabic and Hebrew.
    Folio iia: notes in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic
    Folio iib: Note in Hebrew including the name Joseph ben Shalom [...].
    Folio 198b: Handwritten notes in Arabic, written upside down.


    Condition:

    Bookworm holes. Stains. Spine damaged, sewing fragile and exposed. Boards detaching from text block.


    Additions:
    Marginal notes in Hebrew throughout the manuscript.Arabic notes on folios 4b, 8a, 11a, 12a, 13a.
    Accompanying Material:
    The front and back paste-down contain two conjoined leaves of Sefer ha-Mitsvot of Maimonides.
    Written parchment strip to be used as tefillin.
    Paper fragment with a dated Judeo-Arabic document.
    Paper fragment with Hebrew and Aramaic text on the recto (possibly a get, dated), and a Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic text on the verso (possibly a letter).
    Paper fragment with a table with Hebrew words.

Rights
  • Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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