Bidspirit auction | Brit Yitzchak. Amsterdam, 1768. Extremely

Brit Yitzchak. Amsterdam, 1768. Extremely Rare - Tikkun for the night preceding the circumcision (Lel Shemini Kodem HaMilah) and the order of service for the mohel. Also includes circumcision rites for “the Anusim (crypto-Jews) coming from Spain and Portugal” (leaf 12a), as well as the orders for the circumcision and immersion of converts, the circumcision of slaves, and that of orphans and mamzerim. [The phenomenon of Anusim—Jews who fled the Inquisition from Spain and Portugal to Amsterdam—was widespread in the 16th–17th centuries. This volume provides a rare 18th-century testimony to the continuation of Anusim circumcision customs.] Edited by Rabbi Yitzchak HaKohen Belinfante, with the approbation of Rabbi Shlomo Salom, rabbi of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam. At the center of the title page is a woodcut illustration depicting a brit milah ceremony, and on the final page a woodcut of a basin of warm water (it was customary to wash the infant before and after the circumcision in warm water; see Shabbat 134b). At the beginning of the book appears a Portuguese dedication honoring the mohalim, written by the publisher and benefactor Shlomo Levy Maduro. The final three leaves contain a unique chronological list, in Portuguese, of mohalim active in Amsterdam and in Sephardic communities throughout the world—including the overseas colonies in the Caribbean and South America (Suriname and Curaçao)—recording the years in which they began serving as mohalim, from 1721 to 1765. Amsterdam, 1768. [2], 17, [1] leaves. 16 cm. Condition: Very good. Light age stains. Handsome old brown leather binding with gilt decorations.