Machzor for the High Holidays for Anusim from Spain. Amsterdam, 1652. Spanish. Rare and Especially Early

Machzor for the High Holidays for Anusim from Spain. Amsterdam, 1652. Spanish. Rare and Especially Early

Orden de Ros Asanah y Kypur / traduzido en español, y de nuevo emmendado, y añadido el Keter Malchut, y otras cosas. [1652]. Completed by hand.

Orden - Spanish machzor for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, especially early. From among the first and earliest editions of these machzorim.

The entire machzor was written exclusively in Spanish, without the Hebrew original. The machzor was printed for Spanish anusim who returned to Jewish observance and did not know Lashon HaKodesh.

Background to printing this machzor: Towards the end of the 16th century, a wave of immigration began from the Iberian Peninsula, often referred to as the 'Western Spanish diaspora'. These immigrants were children of New Christian families, "conversos" - Jews who chose to convert to Christianity. Some of them did so only for appearances and lived as anusim. Many of them engaged in local and international trade. At that time, merchants were encouraged by the local authorities and received permits to leave the area of the Iberian Peninsula and settle in new areas, mainly in port cities in western Europe such as Amsterdam.

Some of the New Christians who left Spain and Portugal at the time decided to return to Jewish life. These families were cut off from the Jewish world for over a hundred years. None of the people who left Spain or Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries were actually born Jewish, and all of them - even if they observed Jewish traditions in secret within the family - were effectively raised and educated as Christians. In a gradual process that lasted many decades, the Jewish communities in the Western Sephardic diaspora became established. Some of them even became very important centers in the Jewish world of that time.The Amsterdam community became one of the most important centers of Hebrew and Jewish printing in the 17th century.

Despite the impressive integration of these communities in the Jewish world, the prolonged disconnect of their members from Jewish observance resulted in a disconnect from Jewish customs and even from the Lashon HaKodesh, which had been forgotten by them. This machzor was printed for them exclusively in Spanish. [MiToch Segulah, Magazine Yisraeli LeHistoriah, Issue 130, Nissan/April 2021].

Birth dates are inscribed on the blank leaves ...

478 pp. 15.5 cm. p, 12 pp, in the middle (323-334) are completed in beautiful antique script.

Fine condition, aging stains. Leather binding with a gilt imprint bearing the name Clara Benbunan upside-down.