Lot : 5

Book of Haftorahs on Parchment. Yemen, 14th Century.

Start price: $30,000

Est. Price: $40,000 - $60,000

Book of Haftorahs on Parchment. Yemen, 14th Century–

Medieval manuscript : Over 600 years old!

Haftorahs for the entire year according to the Yemenite Jewish custom. The book was inscribed on parchment during the late 14th century.

As was the custom in the times of the Gemara. The custom of Yemenite Jews is to read one verse in Hebrew followed by the verse’s translation in Aramaic (Targum).

The manuscript is written with this layout. Each verse is written in Hebrew and is followed with the verse in Aramaic translation.

Sefer Haftaros were used regularly in synagogues and thus became worn and damaged over the years. Most extant books of haftaros are from the 17th century. 14th century Books of Haftaros are extremely rare. (Professor Benjamin Richler)

This manuscript contains all haftaros for weekly Parshiyos including the Arba Parshiyos, Rosh Chodesh, and Yamim Tovim. The first leaf of the manuscript begins at Parshas Chayei Sarah and concludes with the haftarah recited at Shacharis on Yom Kippur — excluding the haftarah for Sukkot and Chanukah.

94 leaves; 2 columns per page. Page size: 28x19cm. Thick parchment with line etching. Square Yemenite script with upper punctuation.

Used condition, dark first page. Ten pages with damage to parchment and several tears with missing text —mostly at the end, page 84 missing left column.

(Genazym thanks Professor Benjamin Richler, former director of the Jerusalem National Library Manuscript Department for his assistance.)

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