Collection of Poems, Elegies, and Prayers, [Italy, 17th century]

Fols. 2r-7v: Liturgical poems.

Fols. 8r-9r: Hatavat halom le-ha-Rambam be-lo taanit, a procedure to avert the affects of a bad dream, attributed to Maimonides.

Fols. 9r-10v: Liturgical poems, some for weddings and circumcisions.

Fols. 11r-v: Verses to be used for giving the day during the counting of the omer.

Fols. 12r-14r: Poem for Purim.

Fols. 14v-15v: Poems for the study of Pirkei Avot (The Sayings of the Fathers).

Fol. 16r: Elegy for Elisha Chezighin by Barukh Sinai.

Fol. 16v: Elegy on two martyrs in Piedmont, Daniel ha-levi of Cuneo and Emmanuel Lattes, written by Joseph Bacchi.

Fol. 17: Elegy for Isaac Lattes, who died in 1648 in Nizza of Provence, a native of Cuneo. The elegy is signed Treves and was written in Turin.

Fol. 18: Elegy for Jacob Sinai Colonnia who died in Turin, 1659.

Fols. 18v-19v: Seder birkhat ha-Torah she-sidder R. Menahem Azariah [di Fano].

Fols. 19v-20v: Poem for the miraculous survival of Mordecai Pollaco, signed Treves.

Fol. 21r: Prayer in time of war.

Fol. 21v: Poem on the occasion of the wedding of Jacob Joshua of the family Barukh and Malka bat Emmanuel Montalzino, 1656.

Fol. 22r: Poem on the occasion of the wedding of Matityahu Segre and Rebecca Segre.

Fol. 22v: Poem on the occasion of the wedding of Reuven Yisrael ben Nathan Samuel and Vittoria bat Gabriel Momigliano.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing this manuscript.

Provenance

Jacob Joshua of the family Barukh in Nizza della Pulia (?) (presentation note, fol. 1r) — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 368)

Physical Description

22 leaves on paper, 7 1/8 x 4/ ¾ inches; 181 x 121 mm, written in Italian cursive script in brown ink; worm trails on bottom margins of fols. 1-6 affecting a few words, a few ink burnholes in fols. 7-11. Old brick cloth, calf spine; joints rubbed, boards stained.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 233); J. Schirman, Studies in the History of Hebrew Poetry and Drama, 1979, vol. 2, p. 97 (in Hebrew)