Commentary on Esther, Bahya ben Asher, [18th century]

Bahya ben Asher ben Hlava was a thirteenth century exegete and kabbalist. He was a disciple of Solomon ben Abraham Adret, and according to tradition, lived in Saragossa and served there as dayyan and preacher. In 1291, Bahya wrote his great commentary on the Pentateuch, and it has been published frequently ever since its initial publication in 1492 at Naples. The clarity of Bahya's style and his easy exposition has made his books, which draw their material from a variety of sources, very popular.

The present manuscript contains Bahya ben Asher’s commentary on the Book of Esther. On the title-page, the work is called Sefer Sason ve-Simha, the name Hayyim Zemah seems to be emphasized, and the date given appears to be 1723. Hirschfeld, however, dates the manuscript to 5471 [1711]. The final folio contains a colophon in which the Hebrew date is clearly given as 8 Nissan, however, the verse that is supposed to yield the year lacks the necessary markings, making it difficult to decipher and accounting for the confusion regarding the year in which the manuscript was written. Also, the name of the city given in the colophon, vgtt”z, is unidentifiable. 

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

Provenance

Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 46)

Physical Description

19 leaves on paper, 8 ½ x 6 ½ inches; 216 x 165 mm, 16 lines, written in brown ink in Ashkenazi cursive scripts, with passages from the Book of Esther in a more prominent and formal script, catchwords, modern foliation in pencil; fol. 10 stained. Library buckram.  

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 42); Megillat Esther with Commentary by Avigdor Kohen Tzedek and Rabbenu Bahya, ed. Tz. Leitner, 1994, pp. 10-11; B. D. Walfish, Esther in Medieval Garb, 1993, pp. 216-217