Bidspirit auction | Volume of Halachic Rulings, Responsa,

Volume of Halachic Rulings, Responsa, Homilies and Novellae – Signed Autographs of the Yaavetz, His Descendants and Leading Moroccan Rabbis, 18th-19th Centuries - Volume of halachic rulings, responsa, homilies and novellae – autographs and signatures of R. Yaakov Abensour (Yaavetz) and his descendants; autographs and signatures of leading Moroccan rabbis. Morocco (mainly Fez), 18th century and early 19th century. Most of the volume is handwritten and signed by rabbis of the Abensour family of Fez. Includes: Several leaves handwritten by R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz (leaves 164-165, 168), including outlines of homilies (among them: ”three homilies by R. Shlomo Abudarham”); a leaf handwritten and signed by the Yaavetz (leaf 174; regarding ”the custom to rescind vows while standing”), and a ruling handwritten and signed by the Yaavetz (with his full signature; leaf 182); leaf handwritten and signed by R. Yehudah son of R. Reuven Abensour – brother of the Yaavetz (175); many leaves and gatherings handwritten by R. Shlomo Abensour (the second), including: new laws, homilies, copyings of responsa and halachic rulings, as well as various selections; a booklet ”Reasons for the laws of Pesach” (apparently handwritten by R. Refael Abensour the youngest), with an inscription on first page: ”By my father R. Shlomo Abensour”. Along with them are bound halachic rulings and responsa by leading Moroccan rabbis of the Yaavetz's generation and the following generation, including: a halachic ruling handwritten and signed (twice) by R. Yehudah ibn Attar (the first), from Fez, 1691, together with the signatures of R. Maimon Bussidan, R. Mordechai Saba and other rabbis. The volume also contains: Halachic rulings by R. Eliyahu HaTzarfati of Fez, ca. 1793-1802, most handwritten and signed by his scribe R. Yosef Ashriki (leaves 7-13, 16-17, 27-31, 44-47; signed 14 times in total); one of the rulings is confirmed in the handwriting and signature of R. Yehudah ibn Attar the second (p. 16b), also including letters sent to R. Eliyahu HaTzarfati, by R. Yedidiah Moshe Monsonego, with a responsum signed by R. Yehoshua Yisrael Yaakov [Oliel], R. Amor Abitbol, R. Shmuel Elbaz and R. Amram Elbaz (leaf 93); halachic rulings with additional signatures; and additional leaves in several hands we could not identify. [204] leaves. Approx. 16 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Worming, affecting text. Detached gatherings and leaves. New binding, not attached, with matching slipcase. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco 27. Reference: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 60-61. Manuscript Collection of Moroccan Rabbis – The Abensour Family In the 1960s, the Klagsbald collection was supplemented by a particularly important collection – the manuscripts of the Abensour (Ibn Tzur) family of Fez. The collection contains many volumes comprising halachic rulings and correspondence of leading Moroccan rabbis, centering around the figure of R. Yaakov Abensour, the Yaavetz, a leading Moroccan Torah scholar and Rabbi of Fez, and an ancestor of the family. The collection was painstakingly assembled by R. Refael Abensour the youngest (see below) and was held in its entirety by the Abensour family in Fez until its purchase by Victor Klagsbald. This collection is of inestimable importance as an immense and rare compilation of the Torah teachings and halachic rulings of generations of Moroccan rabbis, kept in its entirety over many generations. Many parts of this collection have yet to be studied and published. Furthermore, the present collection preserves an unparalleled, comprehensive assemblage of autograph manuscripts – handwritten by the leading rabbis of Morocco, with their unique, calligraphic signatures, first and foremost by the Or HaChaim and his peers. R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz The centerpiece of the collection is comprised of numerous halachic rulings and autographs by R. Yaakov Abensour, the Yaavetz (1673-1752; Malchei Rabanan, pp. 64-65), a most prominent and illustrious figure of Moroccan Jewry. A leading halachic authority of his generation (the generation of the holy Or HaChaim and his teachers), a poet and a kabbalist, also well versed in practical kabbalah. At the age of twenty, he was appointed scribe of the Beit Din of R. Vidal HaTzarfati, R. Menachem Serero and R. Yehudah ibn Attar in Fez. He then authored Et Sofer – laws and customs of halachic documents. With the passing of R. Vidal HaTzarfati, R. Yehudah ibn Attar was appointed head of the Beit Din and the Yaavetz became his fellow dayan. The Yaavetz (along with R. Yehudah ibn Attar and other leading Torah scholars of the generation) authored the approbation to Chefetz Hashem by R. Chaim ibn Attar, the Or HaChaim (printed in Amsterdam, 1732). Following R. Yehudah ibn Attar's passing,