Bidspirit auction | Collection of Parchment and Paper

Collection of Parchment and Paper Amulets – Morocco, 18th and 19th Centuries – Rabbis of Abensour Family - Collection of parchment and paper amulets from the collection of the Abensour family in Morocco, with amulets written for rabbis of the family [ca. 18th and 19th centuries]: • Paper amulet, written for ”R. Yaakov”, for protection, removal of the evil eye, for opening the heart to study Torah in ”Tanach, Talmud Yerushalmi and Bavli, Midrash, Tosefta, Sifra and Sifrei, the reasons of the Torah, the secrets of the Torah and the depths of the Torah…”. [Western script, ca. 18th century]. At the beginning, ”R. Yaakov son of…” was written with a space left blank for the mother. The name is written later in the amulet: ”This man, Yaakov son of Miriam”. Later, in the three lines on verso, appears the name ”Yaakov son of Miriam son[!] of Sarah”. The amulet comes from the collection of the Abensour family in Fez; the person for whom the amulet was written may have been R. Yaakov Abensour – the Yaavetz, Rabbi of Fez, leading Moroccan Torah scholar. • Parchment amulet, with various permutations of Hebrew letters, and verses for protection: ”Ben Porat Yosef…”, with the name ”Reuven Abensour” (this was the name of the father of the Yaavetz). • Parchment ”alphabet” amulet (dark parchment), with various permutations of Hebrew letters and vowels, with verses for blessing and protection, and the caption: ”Alphabet of the dear child Shlomo Abensour… may he see offspring and live long, may he merit tefillin and Torah, mitzvot and good deeds, marriage in the lifetime of his father and mother…” followed by verses for protection (this R. Shlomo Abensour appears to be R. Shlomo the second, son of R. Refael the second, great-grandson of the Yaavetz; other Torah scholars in his family were named Shlomo Shmuel or Shlomo Eliyahu). • Parchment amulet, in long and narrow format, with a Star of David (”Seal of Solomon”) at the top, with many Holy Names and a table of permutations of letters. On verso, inscription on benefit of amulet: ”Healing and protection from heaven against all kinds of disasters and damagers… male and female demons, male and female liliths… and all kinds of fear, terror, shaking, trembling, shock… heartache, weakening of hands and breaking of loins… and sickness, and from every kind of evil eye for one who bears this amulet…” (here only the word ”daughter of” remains, with the names of the woman and her mother erased). • Paper amulet, permutations of Holy Names. [Square script, written on both sides]. 5 amulets. Varying size and condition. Provenance: 1. The Abensour Family Collection, Fez, Morocco. 2. The Victor Klagsbald Collection. 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. 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, the Yaavetz succeeded him as head of the Fez Beit Din, and became the supreme authority in Morocco,