One of about two dozen pre-seventeenth-century Yemenite copies of Sefer shofetim to have come down to us.

The present lot comprises a portion of the final book in the Mishneh torah series, entitled Sefer shofetim, which treats such topics as the appointment of judges and kings, forms of punishment for violators of religious law, judicial and witness procedure, bribery, honoring and fearing one’s parents, mourning, and going out to war. (The codex likely originally included a copy of the preceding, thirteenth book of the Mishneh torah series, Sefer mishpatim, which is no longer extant.) Like many other of his Yemenite manuscripts, David Solomon Sassoon purchased this volume from Elias Abraham Saadia Solomon Halfon of Aden (May 20, 1924), who went by the name Elias Abraham Morris when he later immigrated to New York City. It is one of about two dozen known Yemenite copies of Sefer shofetim likely made before the seventeenth century and thus constitutes an important witꦉness to this fundamental text of Jewish law.

Contents

pp. 1-16: Hilkhot sanhedrin ve-ha-oneshin ha-mesurin lahen 19:4b-end; 

pp. 16-44: Hilkhot edut 1:1-10:12a, 14:8b-end;

pp. 44-56: Hilkhot mamrim 1:1-6:17a.

Physical Description

56 pages (9 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.; 252 x 183 mm) (likely original collation: [i-x lacking], xi² [xi_1-8 lacking], xii¹⁰, xiii⁷ [xiii_4-6 lacking], xiv⁹ [xiv₁₀ lacking], [xv-xvii lacking]) on Yemenite (unmarked) paper; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-outer corners; first and final pages of each quire signed in pen at head and foot, respectively, in Hebrew characters; written in Yemenite square (headings and chapter numbers) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in black ink; single-column text of twenty-five lines per page; ruled with a mastara (ruling board); justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters, insertion of space fillers, use of anticipatory letters, hyphenation, and slanted inscription of final words (producing a “carpet fringes” effect); horizontal catchword in lower margin of last page of each quire and in lower margins of numerous other versos; periodic Tiberian vocalization of text; corrections, strikethroughs, and/or marginalia in primary and secondary hands. Probably lacking about 124 folios, about 79 of them containing text from Maimonides’ Sefer mishpatim and another 45 from Sefer shofetim (see collation); scattered staining and dampstaining; some abrasion of lettering, especially on first and last pages; (mostly marginal) worm tracks throughout, sometimes affecting individual words; outer edges of pp. 1-30 repaired, with slight loss of text on each page; minor damage in upper margins of pp. 1-30, with small losses on pp. 7-8, 11-12; damage at foot of pp. 1-2, affecting about 1 1/4 lines of text on each page; tear in outer edge of pp. 1-2, with small loss; puncture near gutter at head of pp. 45-46; damage at foot of pp. 55-56, without loss of text. Modern brown buckram, slightly worn; paper ticket with title affixed to top of spine; shelf mark lette꧋red in gilt at base of spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.

Literature

David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid: Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, vol. 2 ([Oxford]: Oxford University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 1932), 🦩702 (no. 629).