1. Sar ha-Tabahim and Other Works on the Laws of Shehitah,♊ [It﷽aly, ca. 1775]

Fols. 1r-23r: the only extant copy of Sar ha-Tabahim, an unpublished treatise on the laws of ritual slaughter (shehitah and bedikah) by Joshua Segre (Casale Monferrato ജ1708-17ꦐ97).

Fol. 23v: A copy of a license to act as a shohet (ritual slaughterer), issued to the copyis💛t of this manuscript, Elhanan ben Gamliel Foa by Joshua Segre in Scandiano in 1775. 

Fol. 34r: A similar document issued to Israel ben Michael Foa by Isaac Raphael ben Elisha Michael Finzi in Padua in 1790. Fols. 26v-33v contain the beginning of Jacob Weil's text on the laws of shehitah.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing thi🌞s manuscript.

Provenance

Mor🌸decai Samuel Ghirondi — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 270)

Physical Description

42 leaves on paper (15 leaves blank), 5 3/8 x 3 7/8; 138 x 99 mm, written in Italianღ semi-cursive script in black-brown ink, catchwords, modern foliation in pencil; 4 leaves apparently excised after fol. 25, one leaf guarded. Black library buckram.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 138)

2. ꦏAbridged Laws of Shehitah and Bedikah, Raphael ben Mordecai Berdugo, [North Africa, 19𒉰th century]

This unpublished manuscript contains the abridged laws of shehitah and bedikah by Raphael ben Mordecai Berdugo (Meknes, Morocco,꧅ 1747-1821). Berdugo was the author of eight other works, five of which were printed. The present work was copied many times for use as a practical handbook for ritual slaughterers. The end of the text is missing and fols. 1r-2r contain flowery opening sentences for letters.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler fo🎐💟r cataloguing this manuscript.

Physical Description

8 leaves on paper, 9 ¼ x 7 1/8 inches: 235 x 179 mm, written in Maghrebi script, modern foliation in pencil; few small stains, se💛veral leave🐼s repaired along inner margin, library stamp on first and last leaves. Library buckram binding.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 141); on Raphael ben Mordecai Berdugo, see M. Amar, Takkanot Hakhmei Meknes (Jerusalem, 1996, in Hebrew), pp. 53-72; see also the introduction to M. Bar Asher’s edition of Berdugo’s Leshon Limmudim (Jerusalem, 1902).

3. Kunteres Ifrushi me-Issura♏, Solomon ben Shalom Zarka, [Algeria, ca.𝓀 1865]

This slim volume contains Kunteres Ifrushi me-Issura by Solomon ben Shalom Zarka (Algeria, d. 1876), the author of Shai la-Mora and other published works. This pamphlet was composed in order to serve as a preface to his work Zivhei Tereuah (Leghorn, 1867), on the laws of shehitah. In the preface, which was not included in the printed edition, the author caustically criticizes Abraham Anakawa’s book Zevahim Shelemim (Leghorn, 1858). Anakawa’s publication was the cause of a bitter polemic that erupted in Alg𓄧eria as the author was charged with having treated Joseph Karo and other early authorities with gre🌸at disrespect.

Physical Description

19 leaves on paper, 8 x 5 ½ inches: 203 x 140 mm, written in Maghrebi script, modern foliation in pencil; scattered spotting, several leaves repaired along inner margin, final leaf repaired at bottom affecting several lines of text, 🐭library stamp on first leaf. Library buckram binding.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 144); on Solomon Zarka and Abraham Anakawa, see E.R. Marciano, Sefer Malkei Yeshurun (Jerusalem, 2000, in Hebrew), pp. 1🐼18 and 45-46, respectively