New Issue of the Jewish Quarterly Review: Spring 2022
JQR 112.2 is now available, online* and in print.
In this issue:
A Nineteenth-Century Manuscript for the Sefirah Counting
A manuscript for the Sefirah counting recently cataloged in the Alfonso Cassuto Collection dates from 1839; it was written by Salamaõ Attias for Moses Buzaglo in Ponta Delgada.
In the Margins of a Medieval Jewish Prayer Book: The New SIMS-Katz MOOC
In Penn’s Libraries, one can find a particular battle-scarred volume. It is a large folio, rebound in old leather, damaged by fire, with margins cut, pages torn out, others stolen but then replaced, marked by a few clever patches to the parchment. There are marginal notes in a variety of inks and handwritings representing many generations of readers and amenders. It is a late thirteenth–early fourteenth-century Mahzor, or Jewish prayer book for the high holidays, originating from the German Rhineland. (CAJS Rare MS 382).
Kabbalistic Forms: Erratum et Novellus
With volume 110, JQR has emerged as an important platform for the publication of pioneering articles in the nascent field of visual Kabbalah.
Words and images
A JQR Blog post
Examples of Safrut from the Penn Libraries Manuscript Collections
A Sofer is a Jewish ritual scribe, and Safrut is the ritual writing penned by a Sofer. Ritual writing follows a strict set of rules, and very small details can disqualify the item from ritual use. A misspelled word, certain misshapen letters, disorderliness, and even beginning certain columns with the wrong word can sometimes disqualify an entire scroll. Disqualified Torah scroll fragments, for example, are permitted for study purposes only, but not for ritual contexts.
New Worlds through Renaissance Manuscripts
When Fabrizio Lelli introduced this sixteenth-century painting by Bartolomeo Veneto to the audience at a lecture this month, he read it for hints as to its subject.
CAJS Rare Ms. 493: A Historical Record and Eyewitness Account from 18th-Century Jewish Alsace
In 2018 Penn Libraries acquired a Pinkas manuscript, a historical record that most often served as a community-owned ledger, as part of the Moldovan Family Collection of Judaica. Meant to document histories and community members...
Making a Manuscript Sing
In her recent lecture, SIMS-Katz fellow Professor Elisabeth Hollender of Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, introduced a packed audience to the scars and stories told by one fourteenth-century German Mahzor, or prayer book for the holidays.
CAJS Rar Ms 481: A Kabbalistic and Polemical Manuscript Fragment from 1605 Egypt, with Provenance
Featured here is CAJS Rar Ms 481, an undated Egyptian manuscript recently acquired at auction, thanks to the support of the Elis and Ruth Douer Endowed Fund for Judaica Collections.