TSENERENE (EXEGETICAL RENDERING OF THE PENTATEUCH, FIVE SCROLLS, AND HAFTAROT IN YIDDISH), RABBI JACOB BEN ISAAC RABBINO OF JANOVA, SULZBACH: S. ARNSTEIN UND SÖHNE, 1826

One of the most popular and influential books of Ashkenazic Jewry, accompanied by bold illustrations.

Following in a long tradition of Yiddish translations and paraphrases of the Bible, Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac Rabbino of Janova (d. 1623) composed his Tsenerene in the vernacular of Ashkenazic Jewry in order to open up the text of the Pentateuch, Five Scrolls, and haftarot to the common folk. Although the title is taken from the first words of Song of Songs 3:11 (“O maidens of Zion, go forth and gaze”) and the book would, with time, come to be known as the “Women’s Bible,” it was originally intended for consumption by members of both genders. Drawing on the Talmud, midrashim, and medieval commentaries by Rashi, Nahmanides, Rabbeinu Bahya, and others, the work combines plain-sense and homiletical interpretations with stories, legends, and edifying material.

Tsenerene achieved immense popularity, going through hundreds of editions from the early seventeenth century up to the present day (more than a dozen were printed in Sulzbach alone). By the late seventeenth century, some publishers had begun to incorporate a series of woodcuts illustrating scenes from the Bible. The present edition improved upon an earlier printing by the same press from 1799 by resetting the type, sharpening the contours of its sixty-six illustrations (many of them ultimately deriving from the work of famed engraver Matthäus Merian), and placing them in their proper locations throughout the book.

Literature

Marion Aptroot, “Die Holzschnitte der Tsene-rene-Ausgabe Sulzbach 1796 mit den jiddischen und den ins Deutsche übersetzten Überschriften,” in Falk Wiesemann (ed.), “kommt heraus und schaut” – Jüdische und christliche Illustrationen zur Bibel in alter Zeit (Essen: Klartext, 2002), 35-46.

Morris M. Faierstein, Ze’enah u-Re’enah: A Critical Translation into English (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017).

Morris M. Faierstein, “The Ze’enah–Re’enah and its Author,” Seforim Blog (July 19, 2018), available at: https://seforimblog.com/2018/07/the-zeenah-reenah-and-its-author/.

Milly Heyd, “Illustrations in Early Editions of the Tsene-U’rene: Jewish Adaptations of Christian Sources,” Journal of Jewish Art 10 (1984): 64-86.

Chone Shmeruk, Ha-iyyurim le-sifrei yidish ba-me’ot ha-16-ha-17: ha-tekstim, ha-temunot ve-nim‘aneihem (Jerusalem: Akademon, 1986), 61-79.

Vinograd, Sulzbach 572

Magnus Weinberg, “Die hebräischen Druckereien in Sulzbach (Ihre Geschichte; ihre Drucke; ihr Personal),” Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft 1 (1903): 19-202, at p. 177 (no. 432).

Falk Wiesemann, “Das ‘Volk des Buches’ und die Bilder zur Bible vom 16. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert,” in idem (ed.), “kommt heraus und schaut” – Jüdische und christliche Illustrationen zur Bibel in alter Zeit (Essen: Klartext, 2002), 9-34, at pp. 17-19, 23.

Rachel Wischnitzer, “Gleanings: The Zeena u-Reena and Its Illustrations,” in Israel Klausner, Raphael Mahler, and Dov Sadan (eds.), Sefer ha-yovel muggash li-kevod dr. n.m. gelber le-regel yovelo ha-shiv‘im (Tel Aviv: Olamenu, 1963), xxxv-xxxix.