Manuscript Mahzor for the Entire Jewish Liturgical Year, [Yemen: late 19th-early 20th centuries]

203 folios (9 1/2 x 7 in.; 241 x 178 mm) on paper; modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals at upper-outer margin of recto; written in Yemenite square (titles and incipits) and semi-cursive (text body and instructions) scripts in black ink, instructions written with a thinner pen; ruled in blind; intermittent vocalization of selected words; catchwords, often decorated, at foot of virtually every page; marginalia and strikethroughs in hand of primary scribe throughout, with a number of later additions in a different hand. Enlarged titles and incipits; justification of lines via dilation of final letters, insertion of ornamental fillers, and use of abbreviations; headers throughout; instructions intermittently written in Judeo-Arabic; piyyutim often elegantly laid out, at times in two columns; ornamental flourishes often added to letter shin; selihah numeration in margins of ff. 157v-190v, sometimes decorated. Periodic smudging and/or staining; small nick in outer edge of ff. 106r-189v; small hole on f. 142 affecting a couple letters. Earlier, blind-tooled wooden box binding covered in leather with metal knobs and two intact metal clasps, lightly worn; contemporary flyleaves; later newspaper (The Daily Mirror) used for pastedowns.

An elegant Hebrew prayer book housed in a rare box binding.

A clear, neat copy of the Yemenite mahzor for all the Jewish feasts and fasts. The manuscript begins with the text of the prayers for the three pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (including Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atseret, and Simhat Torah) (ff. 1r-44v); continues with the services for the fast of Tish‘ah be-Av, including the entire text of Lamentations (ff. 45r-78v); and concludes with the liturgy for the season of repentance surrounding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (ff. 79r-157r), with the relevant selihot (penitential prayers) appended at the end (ff. 157r-203v). Also included are various piyyutim (liturgical poems), including two by Rabbi Solomon ibn Gabirol (ca. 1021-ca. 1057; see ff. 21v-23v, 138r-143v). The box binding in which the text is housed is remarkably well preserved and adds to the beauty of this mahzor.

Literature

Siddur kolel kol tefillot ha-shanah im kol ha-berakhot ... ha-nikra bi-l[eshon] kadmoneinu Tiklal ke-minhag kol kehillot ha-kodesh teiman (Jerusalem: Samuel ha-Levi Zuckerman, 1894-1898).