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[Seder tefilot be-targum le-Shuʾadit]. [סדר תפילות בתרגום לשואדית]. [Translation of the Jewish prayer book into Judaeo-Provençal with a register of the Montel family, 1587-1614].

Archive Judaica File: MS ROTH/32 Contains digital media

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: [Seder tefilot be-targum le-Shuʾadit]. [סדר תפילות בתרגום לשואדית]. [Translation of the Jewish prayer book into Judaeo-Provençal with a register of the Montel family, 1587-1614].

Level: File

Classmark: MS ROTH/32

Date(s): [14th-15th century]

Language: Judaeo-Occitan; Hebrew

Size and medium: 165 leaves : vellum, illustrations

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/115456

Description

Hebrew title supplied by cataloguer. English title derived from Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 32.


Variant title:

Targum sidur le-Proventsalit. תרגום סדור לפרובנצלית.

Mahzor be-Shuʾadit. מחזור בשואדית.


A Judaeo-Occitan prayerbook for women:

Luxury illuminated manuscript which provides an Judaeo-Occitan or Shuadit (formerly called Judaeo-Provençal) translation of prayers for weekdays and festivals (תפלה דראש השנה (folios 114r–140v) and תפלה דיום הכפורים (folios 141r–163r)). It is written in Hebrew script, and lavishly decorated in red and blue inks and sometimes leaf-gold.

The written text begins on verso of the first folio where only אחותי את היי לאלפי רבבה is written in big gold-leaf square script letters which are embedded in an page-covering illumination in gold and colour. The text, a variant of Gen. 24:60 ("Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands"), is said traditionally to a bride when she is veiled; this suggests that the volume was prepared as a wedding-gift for a bride.


Morning benedictions for women:

One of the main features of the sidur that has intrigued researchers the most are the morning benedictions (ברכות השחר) which confirm that the book was prepared for the use of women. Moreover, this specific version of the benediction is unknown from any other Hebrew or non-Hebrew sources (as of 2004).

Folio 4v reads in the transcription of George Jochnowitz, "Who Made Me a Woman," Commentary 71 (1981): 63:

"Benedich Tu Sant Benezet nostre Diew rey dal segle he non fis mi serventa.

Benedich Tu Sant Benezet nostre Diew rey dal segle ke non fis mi goya.

Benedich Tu Sant Benezet nostre Diew rey dal segle ke fis mi fena."

English translation according to Jochnowitz: "Blessed art Thou Lord our God king of eternity who did not make me a slave (feminine).

Blessed art Thou . . . who did not make me a Gentile (feminine). Blessed art Thou ... who made me a woman."


Linguistic note:

Final "a" is mostly represented by an aleph, for example, שרוינטא (shrṿynṭʾ), בוקא (bṿḳʾ), et cetera. However, there are some examples of a final ה which could imply some influences from the Hebrew transcription traditions of Spain, see ארמה (ʾrmh), מלה (mlh), et cetera.


Bilingual parts:

ויושע י״י ביום, Shirat ha-Yam and the following parts up and including ישתבח (folios 35–38) as well as the blessings around the Shemaʿ (ברכות קריאת שמע) (folios 40–47) are bilingual; the Hebrew text is unvocalised and written in smaller square Hebrew script in a column next to the Judaeo-Occitan translation; both do do not run truly parallel, that is, the scribe does not manage to match the less wordy Hebrew original to the translation.

Ruling in folios 48–56 suggests that the scribe planned to continue to provide the Hebrew original until מודים.


Family register of the Montel family on folios 163v–165r (see below ‘Former owners and annotations’).


Research history:

Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), describes MS Roth 32 as "probably the most important Judaeo-Provençal text extant."

Moshe Lazar was the first to make the existence of MS Roth 32 more widely known in his, "La traduction hébraïco-provençale du rituel (manuscrit inédit dumm XVe siècle)," in Mélanges de langue, vol. 2 (Genève, 1970), 575–90.

Lazar dates the manuscript to the 15th century; according to him, it originates from the area of the Four Communities, of Comtat Venaissin, probably from Avignon. He assumes a prior oral model going back possibly even to the 13th century. Lazar also includes a demonstration of the highly literal translation traditions with a brief comparison to similar Siddurim from Catalonia and Italy.

Lazar adds the transcription of few fragments with its translation into French as a preface for his "upcoming edition." However, this edition has never been published.


We would like to thank Ilil Baum of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, for significantly contributing to this catalogue entry.


State of text:

Worn but relatively well preserved; underwent conservation work.


Bibliographical note:

Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no. 32.

National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 990001856140205171. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of MS Roth 32 made on behalf of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the NLI during the 1960s. The microfilm can now be downloaded in a digitised form from the NLI-webpage.

Moshe Lazar, "La traduction hébraïco-provençale du rituel (manuscrit inédit dumm xVe siècle)," in Mélanges de langue et de littérature du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance, vol. 2 (Genève, 1970), 575–90).

George Jochnowitz, "Who Made Me a Woman," Commentary 71 (1981): 63-64.

Frojmovič, Hebraica (Leeds, 1997), no. 21.

Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 32.

Decoration

Decoration 1: אחותי את היי לאלפי רבבה in golden square script letters which are embedded in a decorative page-covering illumination in gold and coloured intricate designs (folio 1v).

Decoration 2: Headings are written mostly in red ink and intricately ornamented in blue and red ink but sometimes also in leaf-gold (see, for example, the especially splendid ornamental frame around the heading תפלה דראש השנה (folio 114r)).

Decoration 3: Special parts of the service are accented by ornamental bordures, designs and pen-flourishes in coloured inks.

Decoration 4: Incipits of prayers and other parts of the service are written in red ink, or framed in red ink; in both instances they are often intricately ornamented.

Decoration 5: Different script sizes for different parts of the text. Initial words and headings are in bigger bolder script; instructions and Hebrew original are in smaller square script.

Decoration 6: Some instructions for Shabbat and festivals are decoratively written on the margins in coloured ink or coloured decorations.

Decoration 7: Complex layout of some parts.

Decoration 8: Relatively strict maintenance of left margins.

Decoration 9: Completion formulas.

Decoration 10: Poetic spacing.

Decoration 11: Substitute for the Tetragrammaton when Hebrew is used.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: iii (i is paste-down) + 165 (vellum) + iii ( iii is paste-down); modern pencil foliation upper left recto; folios 1r and 165v are blanks, 163v–165r were originally blanks.

Collation: 1–20⁸ 21⁶?(4 after folio 163 is cancelled?).

Quire numeration: Hebrew letters, upper right margin (very close to the gutter), first leaf recto of the first 16 quaternions (except 15th); the numbering of the remaining quires is probably trimmed-off or invisible in the gutter.

Ruling: frame-ruled in hard point; in some folios, like 35–38, 40–47, 48–56 more complex ruling.

Number of lines: generally 15 to a page.

Number of columns: 2 in folios 35–38 and 40–47.

Script: Provençal square Hebrew script.

Ms. codex: width 99mm height 137mm

Binding

Brown half leather binding with decorated paper over boards; spine is gilt-lettered with "Preces Hebr. -Prov. MS. in membr."; held in a custom-made box covered with brown cloth; underwent conservation work.

Vocalisation and cantillation

All liturgical parts are vocalised.

Scribal information

The whole item is written by one professional scribe who sometimes uses the margins for corrections.

Former owners and annotations

Gad ben Shemuʾel Monṭelits (Montel) (גד בכ"ר שמואל מונטיליץ) (folio 163v) and his son Yiśraʾel ben Gad Monṭelits (ישראל בן כמ״ר גד מונטיליץ) (folio 165r).


Folios 163v–165r (orginially blank) were used for a birth-register by two members of the Montel (מונטיליץ) family; there are four entries in Hebrew in Provençal cursive Hebrew script:

Gad ben Shemuʾel Montel records the birth of three children of his own in the years 1587, 1592 (13 Tishri 353) and 1697.

Yiśraʾel ben Gad Montel records the birth of Rivḳah, the daughter of his son-in-law Ḥayim Lunel (חיים לוניל), in the year 1614 (folio 165r) in the forth and last entry.


The bookplate for “The Cecil Roth Collection”, which was designed in a collaboration between Roth and the University of Leeds, is attached to the front paste-down end-paper.

Roth’s description of MS Roth 32, cut out from a copy of his printed catalogue, is attached to the front free end-paper recto.

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