One of about six pre-sixteenth-century nearly-complete Yemenite copies of Sefer nashim, as well as one of two pre-sixteenth-century nearly-complete Yemenite copies of Sefer kedushah, to have come down to us.

The present lot comprises nearly-complete copies of both the fourth and the fifth books in the Mishneh torah series, namely, Sefer nashim and Sefer kedushah. The former treats the laws of marriage and divorce, levirate marriage and halitsah (the dissolution of a levirate relationship), sexual violence and abuse, and the sotah (wayward wife). The latter discusses the rules governing forbidden sexual relationships, kashrut, and ritual slaughter. (The codex likely originally included a copy of the second book of the Mishneh torah series, Sefer ahavah, which is no longer extant; likewise, Sefer kedushah appears to have originally been written separately and later joined to Sefer nashim.) Like many other of his Yemenite manuscripts, David Solomon Sassoon purchased this volume from Elias Abraham Saadia Solomon Halfon of Aden (between mid-March 1928 and mid-July 1929), who went by the name Elias Abraham Morris when he later immigrated to New York City. It contains one of about six known nearly-complete Yemenite copies of Sefer nashim, and even fewer of Sefer kedushah, likely made before the sixteenth c💙entury and thus constitutes an important🃏 witness to these fundamental texts of Jewish law.

Provenance 

Awad ibn Salem (p. 388)

Contents

pp. 1-103: introduction to Sefer nashim and Hilkhot ishut 1:1-18:25, 19:11b-end;

pp. 103-164: Hilkhot geirushin;

pp. 164-200: Hilkhot yibbum va-halitsah;

pp. 200-207: Hilkhot na‘arah betulah;

pp. 207-216: Hilkhot sotah 1:1-3:18a;

pp. 217-218: introduction to Sefer kedushah;

pp. 218-303: Hilkhot issurei bi’ah;

pp. 303-365: Hilkhot ma’akhalot asurot 1:1-7:14, 9:17-end;

pp. 365-392: Hilkhot shehitah 1:1-9:12a.

Physical Description

392 pages (10 1/4 x 7 3/4 in.; 261 x 195 mm) (likely original collation: [i-x lacking], xi⁹ [xi₁ lacking], xii-xiv¹⁰, xv⁹ [xv₁ lacking], xvi-xxi¹⁰, [xxii_1-2 lacking], i⁷ [i₁ lacking], ii-v¹⁰, vi⁹ [vi₁₀ lacking], vii⁸ [vii_1-2 lacking], viii-ix¹⁰, x³ [x_4-10 lacking]) on Yemenite (unmarked) paper; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in lower margins at center; first and final pages of each quire signed in pen at head and foot, respectively, in Hebrew characters; midpoints of quires generally marked in the upper-right and lower-left corners of the middle opening with a hook-shaped symbol; binding symbols(?) in upper-outer and lower-outer corners of the opening comprising pp. 116-117; written in Yemenite square (headings and incipits) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in black ink; single-column text of twenty-three or twenty-four lines per page; ruled with a mastara (ruling board); justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters, hyphenation, abbreviation, and slanted inscription of final words (producing a “carpet fringes” effect); periodic Tiberian or Babylonian vocalization of text; Tetragrammaton abbreviated to three yodin in a row with a short, straight line above the middle one; original halakhah numeration in ink in Hebrew characters; corrections, strikethroughs, and/or marginalia (including in Judeo-Arabic) in primary and secondary hands. Enlarged hollow headings and incipits, sometimes accompanied by hollow rosettes. Probably lacking about 113 folios, about 98 of them containing text from Maimonides’ Sefer ahavah (or possibly another Maimonidean work) and another 15 from Sefer nashim or Sefer kedushah (see collation); scattered staining and dampstaining; corners rounded; periodic worming, mostly minor and marginal toward front of volume; slits opening along ruling lines at points, with consequent abrasion of text; more severe abrasion on pp. 1, 79, 217-228, 249-250, 267-274, 365-366, 389-392; damage in or near upper-outer corners of pp. 1-24, sometimes with repairs that cover more text; puncture on pp. 55-56; damage in upper quadrants of pp. 215-216, 275-392 affecting text, especially on pp. 289-290, 305-306, 313-330. Modern brown buckram, slightly scratcheဣd; shelf mark lettered in gilt at base of spine; Sassoon’s typed table of contents tipped in at front of volume; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.

Literature

Sassoon 1182 (not catalogued in Ohel Dawid)