Sefer ha-Halakhot (Legal Code) on Berakhot, Seder Mo‘ed, and Halakhot Ketannot, Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi, Scribe: Amram ben Saadiah Ibn Abud, [Middle East or North Africa], 1510

A beautifully produced example of a major halakhic compendium.

Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (Rif; 1013-1103) was a transitional figure who lived on the seam between the period of the ge’onim and that of the rishonim. A native of northern Algeria who received his education in Kairouan, Rif resided for much of his life in Fez (hence the surname Alfasi) until about the age of 75, when he was forced to flee to Spain, where he subsequently passed away. During his long career, he taught many eminent students and wrote numerous responsa. Perhaps his greatest literary legacy, however, is his Sefer ha-halakhot, also known as Hilkhot rav alfas, a comprehensive summary-cum-commentary of/on the halakhic and aggadic portions of the Talmud that remain practically relevant nowadays, in the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was studied by scholars and laymen alike, in many cases substituting for the Talmud itself due to its concision and practical orientation. Many rabbinic authorities in the centuries that followed its compilation praised, criticized, and expanded Rif’s work, making it one of the seminal halakhic codes of the Middle Ages.

Sefer ha-halakhot was first printed in Constantinople in 1509 in two volumes, including the commentaries of Rabbis Nissim Gerondi, Joseph Habiba, Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel, and others, together with Rabbi Mordechai ben Hillel’s voluminous halakhic compendium, Sefer mordekhai. A new edition appeared at Daniel Bomberg’s press in Venice in 1521-1522, this time in three volumes and including an edited version of Rashi’s commentary on the Talmud, as well as the text of the Tosefta. These early imprints served as the basis for many of those published in the centuries that followed (down to the present day), significantly influencing the course of halakhic history in the era of the aharonim. For example, Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the most important halakhic code of modern times, the Shulhan arukh, apparently used the Constantinople edition in his studies and writings.

Recent scholarly research has revealed the extent to which the text of Rif’s magnum opus underwent modification in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, especially with the advent of movable type. Ezra Chwat has demonstrated that the manuscript tradition of Alfasi’s work on Tractate Shabbat alone differs in 2,411 instances from the commonly available printed editions. These changes include clarifications, additions, subtractions, simple errors, and even intentional content alterations, some of them made to accommodate the work’s transition to the European continent or to bring it in line with the halakhic rulings of the Ashkenazic Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel. The result is what Chwat calls “a different book” from the one composed by Alfasi.

The present lot, a faithful representative of the old (pre-Europeanization) manuscript tradition, was completed in the Middle East or North Africa by a gifted scribe, Amram ben Saadiah Ibn Abud, on Tuesday, 18 Marheshvan 1822 AG (November 1, 1510 CE), about a year after he had finished copying a Torah commentary by Rabbi Samuel ben David ben Solomon (Oxford, Merton College, Mss. Or. 6-10). Both works were produced on behalf of Shalom bar Obadiah bar Abraham bar Kokhav. Approximately four centuries later, David Solomon Sassoon purchased the volume from the Amsterdam booksellers P.A. Hemerijck and A.T. Kleerekoper on August 9, 1939, making this one of his final manuscript acquisitions.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Noam Sienna for providing information that aided in the cataloguing of this manuscript.

Contents

pp. 4-103: Berakhot;

pp. 104-260: Shabbat;

pp. 261-334: Eiruvin;

pp. 334-388: Pesahim;

pp. 388-389: Rabbeinu Hananel’s explanation of halakhic volume measurements;

pp. 390-409: Rosh ha-shanah;

pp. 409-424: Yoma;

pp. 424-455: Sukkah;

pp. 455-496: Yom tov;

pp. 496-545: Mo‘ed katan;

pp. 545-582: Megillah; 

pp. 582-587: Hilkhot tum’ah;

pp. 587-591: Hilkhot sefer torah;

pp. 591-597: Hilkhot mezuzah;

pp. 597-606: Hilkhot tefillin;

pp. 606-617: Hilkhot tsitsit;

p. 617: colophon;

rear flyleaf: later prayer for protection from the Evil Eye, evil spirits, demons, etc.

Provenance

Abraham ben Baruch Cohen? (p. 1)

Physical Description

618 pages (10 1/4 x 7 in.; 260 x 176 mm) (collation: i⁹ [i₁ torn, with stub present], ii-xxxi¹⁰) on apparently unmarked paper (pp. 2-3, 618 mostly blank); modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-outer corners of rectos toward front of volume, often erased; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-outer corners (cited); written in beautiful Sephardic square (headings and incipits) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in dark brown and black inks; single-column text of twenty-five lines per page; ruled with a mastara (ruling board); justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters, suspension of final letters, insertion of (ornamental) space fillers, use of anticipatory letters, and abbreviation; slanted catchword in lower margin of each verso; Tetragrammaton abbreviated to three yodin in a triangular formation followed by a wavy line; indications by scribe of his name on pp. 205, 343; marginal comment on p. 7; episodic corrections. Enlarged headings and incipits (rubricated on p. 253), those at the beginning of each new section (see Contents) usually flourished (with rubrication on pp. 390, 409); diagrams on pp. 107, 261-262, 292, 294, 389 (rubricated), 434 (rubricated), 441 (rubricated). Scattered staining and dampstaining (darker on pp. 1-10, 599-618); some dog-earing; first (unpaginated) leaf torn, with only a bit of text visible on verso; small repairs in outer edges of pp. 1-6, in gutter at head of p. 11, in upper edge of pp. 17-18, and in lower edge of pp. 617-618; gutters of pp. 38-39 strengthened; folios comprising pp. 47-50 misbound; slight worming in outer edges of pp. 51-64, in lower edges of pp. 79-85, in upper edges of pp. 355-367, in upper margins of pp. 387-478 (sometimes repaired), and near gutter at foot of pp. 397-414. Original(?) leather over cardboard centered by a blind-tooled rosette and framed by elegantly blind-tooled interlace work, scratched, worn, and rubbed; spine rebacked and inside covers relined; shelf mark lettered in gilt at base of spine; early paper flyleaves attached to boards via leather guards.

Literature

Malachi Beit-Arié and R. A. May (eds.), Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: Supplement of Addenda and Corrigenda to Vol. I (A. Neubauer’s Catalogue) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 479 (no. 2443).

Ezra Chwat, “Nussah ha-mekori shel hilkhot ha-rif be-kitvei ha-yad ha-attikim,” Yeshurun 18 (2006): 15-35.

Ezra Chwat, “Dugma’ot al hashivut nussah kitvei ha-yad shel hilkhot ha-rif,” Giluy Milta B’alma (June 12-August 8, 2012), available at: https://forum.otzar.org/download/file.php?id=55808.

Hillel Heiman (ed.), Sefer hilkhot ha-rif […] al massekhet pesah rishon (Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1990).

Sassoon 1271 (not catalogued in Ohel Dawid)