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Manuscript, Sefer HaKavanot – Morocco, 18th Century – Hundreds of Handwritten Glosses by Rabbi Yaakov Abensour (Yaavetz) – Glosses by Other Torah Scholars - Manuscript, Sefer HaKavanot. [Morocco, ca. 1700s-1720s]. Neat Western script, handwritten by R. Yosef Gabizon. Glosses incorporated in ”windows” in smaller script, including several glosses by the copyist. The copyist added additional glosses in parentheses within the text. Additionally, there are many marginal glosses by the copyist, most with notations and titles, although some are original. On p. 253b, gloss in ”window”: ”It seems to me, the copyist, that its interpretation is…”, signed by R. Yosef Gabizon with his initials. Copy of R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz. On margins and between lines, hundreds of glosses in his characteristic handwriting (in tiny, neat letters), including corrections, textual variants and additions. On p. 31b, he signs at the end of one of the glosses: ”I, Yaakov Abensour, emended this, and so I also found later in another book”. On p. 112a: ”It appears to me, Yaavetz”. Signed gloss on p. 240b: ”The words of Yaavetz”. At the top of the manuscript is bound a nine-leaf booklet handwritten by the Yaavetz, with glosses (most lengthy) on Sefer HaKavanot. He writes at the beginning: ”Glosses belonging to Sefer HaKavanot by the Arizal, according to the pagination of the book in my possession handwritten by R. Yosef Gabizon. And I did not want to go so far as to write on the pages of the book, due to my awareness of my deficient knowledge in these awesome matters. So says Yaakov Abensour”. The Yaavetz is referring to the present manuscript, the references in the appended booklet of glosses match precisely the page and line numbers of the manuscript. It seems that by contrast with the many glosses he added inside the book, which are mostly based on manuscripts and variant readings, the appended booklet contains his own lengthy novellae, which he therefore wrote separately. Some of the Yaavetz's glosses in his booklet are particularly lengthy, while others begin with or are signed with his name (”It appears to me, Yaavetz”, ”The words of Yaavetz”). Included are critiques of the glosses by the copyist, R. Yosef Gabizon. A copying of these glosses (apparently made from the present copy) appears in the Lehman collection, New York, Ms. 215, where the colophon of the copyist reads: ”At the request of… R. Shmuel Sunbal, I arranged these glosses by the great rabbi… Yaavetz on the Sefer HaKavanot of the abovementioned R. Shmuel Sunbal, each gloss appearing in its appropriate place… Shmuel ibn Wa'ish” (see: Ohel Chaim, catalog of Hebrew manuscripts in the library of Menashe Refael and Sarah Lehman, New York, 1988, K 32, p. 66). At the beginning of the Yaavetz's autograph booklet – signature of R. Refael Abensour, Rabbi of Fez (the youngest). Several glosses by other writers, some unidentified. On p. 12b, gloss signed by ”P. T.” [=Pinchas Toledano?]; on p. 302a, gloss signed with initials by R. Shlomo Eliyahu Abensour, grandson of the Yaavetz; on p. 332b, gloss signed ”Yaavetz”, apparently a copying handwritten by R. Shlomo Eliyahu Abensour. The copyist, R. Yosef Gabizon, was apparently a rabbi of Tétouan, as his name appears on a document from that location dated to 1702 along with R. Moshe ibn Zimra (see: Malchei Rabanan, p. 58). [1], 2-355 leaves (one or two leaves may be missing from the index leaves at the end) + 9 leaves (booklet handwritten by the Yaavetz bound at the beginning of the manuscript). 21 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Tears and wear. Open tears as a result of ink erosion to some leaves, affecting text. Worming to some leaves, slightly affecting text. Detached leaves. New binding, not attached, with matching slipcase. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection – Morocco 38. Reference: Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue des manuscrits marocains de la collection Klagsbald, Paris, 1980, pp. 82-83. 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,