Bidspirit auction | Volume of Halachic Rulings, Responsa

Volume of Halachic Rulings, Responsa and Novellae – Autographs and Signatures of Moroccan Rabbis – 1770-1820 - Volume of manuscripts, halachic rulings, letters, responsa and novellae – autographs and signatures of Moroccan rabbis. [Morocco, ca. 1770-1820]. Booklets of halachic rulings and edicts, written and signed by leading rabbis and dayanim of Morocco, mainly from Fez, Meknes, Marrakesh and Rabat. At end of volume (leaves 75-107), novellae on Tractate Sukkah, autograph handwriting of author, with many deletions and corrections, by an unidentified author. The signatures appearing on the halachic rulings in the present volume include: of Fez rabbis – R. Eliyahu HaTzarfati (3 times), R. Matitiah Serero (twice), R. Shmuel Abensour, R. Avraham son of Mordechai HaLevi, R. Yedidiah Moshe Monsonego, R. Refael Yaakov ibn Simchon (3 times), R. Shmuel son of Avraham Zimra; of Meknes rabbis: R. Yekutiel Berdugo (4 times), R. Refael Berdugo (”the angel Refael”, 4 times); R. Moshe Maimaran (twice), R. Shlomo Toledano (twice), R. Baruch Toledano, R. Mordechai Berdugo, R. Yaakov Berdugo, R. Masud Arwach; of Tétouan rabbis: R. Yehudah HaKohen and R. Moshe son of R. Shmuel Elbaz, R. Shlomo Abudarham and R. Avraham Monsonego, R. Yehudah Elmaliach; of Sefrou rabbis: R. Amor Abitbol and R. Yehudah Elbaz; and other rabbis. Contains lengthy booklets with original and copied halachic rulings, some unsigned, and some with confirmatory signatures of other rabbis, including: a copy of a Meknes halachic ruling from 1741, copied in Rabat, 1770, signed by R. Yitzchak son of R. Yehudah Saba and R. Eliyahu Yisrael Carciente; copy of a halachic ruling from Rabat, 1765, with confirmation signed by R. Moshe Tzabach and R. Chaim son of R. Yaakov Bibas; copy of a halachic ruling from Rabat dated 1803, with a confirmatory halachic ruling signed by leading Marrakesh rabbis: R. Avraham son of R. Yaakov Pinto (the second, 1782-1834), R. Yaakov Pinto (the second, grandson of the homonymous author of Mikdash Melech, d. 1819), R. Shlomo son of R. Shalem Assebag (the first, d. 1820) and R. Yosef son of R. Yitzchak Harosh. Some halachic rulings and booklets are autographs by some of the above rabbis. [107] leaves. Approx. 21 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears and wear. Worming in many places, affecting text. Damage and erasures to several leaves, affecting text. Leather binding, composed mostly of old binding (from Morocco), with new spine. Wear and damage to binding. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco 41. Literature: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 90-91. 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,