Bidspirit auction | Two Manuscript Volumes – Talmudic

Two Manuscript Volumes – Talmudic Novellae of Rabbi Yehudah Toledano – Author's Autograph – Morocco, 19th Century - Two manuscript volumes, novellae on Tractates Eruvin, Taanit, Makot and Horayot, handwritten by the author R. Yehudah Toledano of Meknes. [Morocco, early 19th century]. Two volumes in Western script – author's autograph, with his signature in colophons at ends of tractates. First volume: The volume begins with several leaves of the author's novellae on Eruvin, while most of the volume contains novellae on Taanit. At the end of the novellae on the tractate (p. 61a), colophon of author: ”And thus the tractate is completed in Tevet 1813, so says… Yehudah Toledano”. The following leaves (62-71) contain additional novellae written by the author, before which he writes: ”Addenda of ideas conceived after studying the tractate”. An earlier version of the author's novellae on Taanit from 1803 is extant in the Kehillot Yisrael library; see: Min HaGenazim, XII, p. 111. No other manuscript of the novellae on Eruvin is known. Second volume: Most of the volume contains novellae on Horayot, incorporating the author's own novellae as well as those of R. Yachya Chimi of Salé. He first wrote the novellae of R. Yachya Chimi on each leaf of the tractate, ending ”Up to this point are the words of the teacher, from this point are the words of the disciple”, followed by his own novellae to the leaf. The top of the first leaf contains a short introduction by R. Yehudah Toledano: ”Tractate Horayot with the help of heaven, and I will first write the novellae of R. Yachya Chimi on this tractate, which we possess in an autograph manuscript from 1758, and I will subsequently write what G-d granted me…”. At the end of the novellae on Horayot (p. 46b), colophon by author: ”Thus the tractate has been completed in Adar 1804, the [22nd] year of my life, and now in this year, 1828, I decided to arrange them properly… Signed, Yehudah Toledano”. The author was 22 years old when he wrote the first version of the above novellae, as stated in the above colophon; the present manuscript is a revised version composed about 24 years later. The first version is extant in Ms. Cincinnati 115. By comparison to Ms. Cincinnati, the present version visibly contains many additional original novellae, as well as the novellae of R. Yachya Chimi which do not appear in Ms. Cincinnati (which is itself extant in another copying of R. Yachya Chimi's novellae on Horayot prepared by R. Yehudah Toledano, in NLI Ms. 125=8). The end of the volume contains novellae on Makot, concluding with the author's colophon: ”Thus the tractate is completed in Tamuz 1814… signed, Yehudah Toledano”. Another copying of the novellae on Makot is extant in the Kehillot Yisrael library; see: Min HaGenazim, ibid., p. 113). The author, R. Yehudah son of R. Meir Toledano (1782-ca. 1840), a rabbi of Meknes, his ancestral city of birth; relocated for some time with his family to Salé and Rabat. A prolific author, he left behind many manuscript works, most of which are preserved to this day. On him and his works, see at length: R. Avraham Hillel, R. Yehudah son of R. Meir – A Rabbi of Meknes, Morocco, Min HaGenazim, XII, Modiin Ilit, 2018, pp. 91-121 (Hebrew). Two manuscript volumes. Volume I (Eruvin, Taanit): [72] leaves. Volume II (Horayot, Makot): [61] leaves. 18.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, worming and open tears, affecting text, repaired with tape. New bindings. 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.