Tikkun Kor'im, (Pentateuch with Targum, Haftarot, Megillot and Commentary of Rashi), Manuscript on Parchment, Scribe: Joshua ben Gershom [Northern Italy], 16 Elul, 5246 = 17 August, 1486

433 leaves (11 3/4 x 9 in.; 299 x 228 mm). Collation: 1^{7, 2-148, 1520*, 16-268, 2712, 28-338, 3410, 35-468, 473, 488, 4911, 50-518, 5210. ( *Quire 15 comprises ff. 112-131, sewn at 123r/124v; text uninterrupted and lacking none; apparently two quires, likely of ten leaves each, later joined and re-sewn). Manuscript on parchment written in brown ink in square and semi-cursive fifteenth-century, northern Italian, Hebrew scripts. Pentateuch in four columns: targum (Aramaic translation) and right-hand column of biblical text with nikkud, second repeated (left-hand) column of biblical text as well as commentary unvocalized; Masorah Parva appears on both sides of the vocalized biblical text column; ruled in ink; double rows of pricking  at inner and outer margins, single rows of pricking at head and foot. Catchwords at ends of quires, some cropped as are some pericope headings. Modern pagination in pencil; frequent marginalia in contemporary hand; title soiled, corners repaired affecting some text, three collage pieces with Divine names affixed; some flaking of ink in first quire, lightly stained and soiled throughout, heavier soiling and wax stains in quires 50 and 52 in texts of Esther and Lamentations, reflecting the tradition of nightime liturgical recitation of these books. Modern morocco; upper joint cracked, leather clasps torn.}

Gershom ben Joshua—written for him by his father, Joshua ben Gershom—16 Elul, 5246 = 17 August, 1486; Elhanan Alpron, functionary of the holy community [?]- 1751—his name on the included (loose) flyleaf

Aaron Freimann, "Jewish Scribes in Medieval Italy," Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, English Section, no. 247a, p.285; Kennicott, 561; D. S. Blondheim, "Liste des Manuscripts de Commentaires bibliques de Raschi," Revue des études juives, tome 91 (1931), p. 71 sq. et 155 sq. Reprinted: Paris 1932: Publications de la Société des Etudes Juives. p. 31, nr. 194a.; Zeitschrift für hebräische Bibliographie:  XVIII, 103. nr. 437

433 leaves (11 3/4 x 9 in.; 299 x 228 mm). Collation: 17, 2-148, 1520*, 16-268, 2712, 28-338, 3410, 35-468, 473, 488, 4911, 50-518, 5210. (Quire 15 comprises ff. 112-131, sewn at 123r/124v; text uninterrupted and lacking none; two quires, likely of ten leaves each, later joined and re-sewn). Manuscript on parchment written in brown ink in square and semi-cursive fifteenth-century, northern Italian, Hebrew scripts. Pentateuch in four columns: targum (Aramaic translation) and right-hand column of biblical text with nikkud, second repeated (left-hand) column of biblical text as well as commentary unvocalized; Masorah Parva appears on both sides of the vocalized biblical text column; ruled in ink; double rows of pricking at inner and outer margins, single rows of pricking at head and foot. Catchwords at ends of quires, some cropped as are some pericope headings. Modern pagination in pencil; frequent marginalia in contemporary hand; title soiled, corners repaired affecting some text, three collage pieces with Divine names affixed; some flaking of ink in first quire, lightly stained and soiled throughout, heavier soiling and wax stains in quires 50 and 52 in texts of Esther and Lamentations, reflecting the tradition of nightime liturgical recitation of these books. Modern morocco; upper joint cracked, leather clasps torn.
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The outstanding feature of this extraordinary volume is the presence of two complete copies of the entire text of the Pentateuch arranged side-by-side in the center of every page. One column has the familiar text of most Pentateuch manuscripts, with nikkud (vocalization), trop (cantillation) and the punctuation, while the other column has only the words of the text as they appear in a Torah scroll, devoid of any punctuation, vocalization or cantillation. This side-by-side arrangement allows for the memorization of these missing elements thereby facilitating the reader's preparation for public liturgical recitation using a Torah scroll.

Flanking the two columns of the Torah text on each page are two more columns; nearest to the gutter is the vocalized targum (Aramaic translation) and nearest to the outer margin is the commentary of Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi.) Masorah Parva appears on both sides of the vocalized biblical text column. Folios 1r-120r place the vocalized text to the right of the unvocalized text; however, beginning on f. 120 v. the vocalized text is placed nearer to the gutter with the unvocalized text nearer to the margin.

The Aramaic translation is present only for the text of the Pentateuch. Weekly Haftarot appear after each pericope and Haftarot for special Sabbaths and for festivals appear following the Pentateuch beginning on f. 389. The text of Rashi's commentary generally agrees with the published editions; however, in some cases our text adds material not found in the published editions of Rashi (see for example: f. 242r, ko tivarhu; yivarekhekha be-Vanim; f. 244 recto, be-Yom ha-Shevi'i, etc), reflecting midrashic and Gaonic material. The text is lacking the commentary of Rashi on the final seven verses of Ecclesiastes.

Four of the Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Ruth) are accompanied by the commentary of Rashi. Only the book of Esther follows the example of the Pentateuch section and adds an additional column reprising the biblical text without nikkud. As the only one of the Five Scrolls whose public liturgical recital must be from an unvocalized text, this too required the memorization of cantillation and punctuation that was facilitated by the side-by-side structure of a tikkun.

The colophon on f. 388r reads as follows: I Joshua son of Gershom, (may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing) copied this Pentateuch, with its targum and its commentary and its punctuation; and I completed it on Thursday the 16^th of Elul in the year five thousand two hundred and forty-six since the creation of the world; And I wrote it for my son, Gershom (may he live). God (may He be blessed) grant that he merit to delve in it and to guard and fulfill all that is written in it, he and his offspring until the end of all the generations (Amen, may it be [God's] will.)

The date, recorded by earlier bibliographers (see literature) as the 14^th of Elul is incorrect due to the mistaking of a vav in the date for a dalet and the concurrent assumption that the scribe would have adhered to the common, albeit later, convention that would have replaced yud-vav with tet-zayin and avoid an inadvertent use of a letter combination used in the formation of a Divine name. However, it remains an ineluctable fact that in the year 5246, the 14^th of Elul was a Tuesday and the 16^th was a Thursday. It is certainly safe to assume that Joshua ben Gershom knew what day it was.

Although the sheer size of this work reflects a prodigious effort on the part of the scribe Joshua ben Gershom, he was able to conserve his exertions in at least one instance. In the pericope which deals with the sacrificial offerings of the nesi'im, the heads of each of the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel, a section which virtually repeats the same six verses twelve times changing only the name of the nasi and the name of the tribe, our scribe allowed himself several shortcuts. Although he included the complete text of the twelve sacrifices, he only vocalized and provided the full targum for the first three. Thereafter he left out the vocalization and all but those words of targum which reflected the changes in name and tribe.

In several places, masoretic notes have been incorporated into a graphic design (see for example f. 245 for a geometric design and f. 251 for a figural representation of a ewer) and contemporary drawings of some of the Temple implements appear on f.132 v (Menorah) and f.135r (The Altar.)

An accompanying eighteenth century flyleaf indicates that the volume was in the possesion of Elhanan Alpron, functionary of an unnamed community in 1751. Yet another small slip of paper found in the manuscript in a coeval hand records the names of those being afforded synagogue honors.

The present lot represents an almost unknown genre among medieval manuscripts. The exacting nature required to produce a manuscript of this kind and to organize its various columns in a format that is reminiscent of a printed book, sets in motion an interconnected set of ruminations regarding the present work that may not be provable but nevertheless remain sufficiently tantalizing to warrant mentioning here. Although, excepting their names and that they were both living in 1486, we know nothing of the scribe Joshua or his son Gershon, one cannot help but be put in mind of the commonality of these names in a particularly illustrious family of Jewish bookmen of German extraction whose presence in Northern Italy at the end of the fifteenth century, when this manuscript was executed, is abundantly well attested to. It was Isaiah Sonne, who, upon examining the present manuscript, first speculated that it could be the work of a scion of the Soncino family. If his conjecture were to be borne out, it would mean that the present work would represent a unique bridge straddling the venerable traditions of Hebrew manuscript production and the nascent craft of Hebrew printing.