Flora Sassoon (1856-1936), David Solomon Sassoon’s mother, was born in Bombay to Ezekiel Gubbay (1824-1896), a Baghdad native who immigrated to India and worked in China, and Aziza Sassoon (1839-1897), eldest daughter of Sir Albert (Abdullah Meir) Sassoon (1818-1896). Gubbay hired Baghdadi teachers to move to Bombay and tutor his twelve children in Jewish subjects; for her general education, Flora attended Catholic school. Already at an early age she stood out for her intelligence, erudition, business and financial acumen, refined character, fervent religious faith, and generosity. Her knowledge of the Bible, Talmud, and halakhic codes was exceptional, and she carried on learned correspondences with prominent Sephardic and Ashkenazic rabbis of her day. She published two scholarly articles in the New York-based Orthodox periodical The Jewish Forum and was selected to preside over the annual Spe🐠ech Day of Jews’ College on April 13, 1924.

She also loved singing pizmonim on Sabbaths and festivals using traditional Iraqi Jewish tunes. Before marrying Solomon David Sassoon on March 1, 1876, she copied at least two collections of such pizmonim, one of which comprises the present lot and is dated Monday, 11 Sivan 5635 (June 14, 1875; see pp. 17, 33). (The second, Sassoon 426, is dated 22 Tevet 5636 [January 19, 1876].) These include: (1) Ashir la-E-l asher shavat by Rabbi Moses ben Samuel ha-Levi (d. 1838); (2) Barukh E-l elyon by Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel of Mainz; (3) Barukh ba be-shem ha-Shem by Rabbi Sason Mordechai Shindookh (1747-1830); (4-5) Yashir yisra’el shir no‘am and Shir hadash ashir ve-shem E-l akdish ba-adat ari’el, both often sung by Iraqi Jews on the Sabbath of Parashat be-shallah (Shabbat shirah); (6) Yom yom odeh la-E-l asher bahar banu, often sung by Iraqi Jews on the Sabbath of Parashat yitro and on Shavuot, two occasions when the Ten Commandments are read publicly; (7) Yatsa li-melokh mi-beit surim by Rabbi Israel Najara (1555-1628), often song by Iraqi Jews on the Sabbath of Hanukkah; (8) Melekh go’el u-moshia by Rabbi Moses Hussein (d. 1810), often sung by Iraqi Jews on the Sabbath closest to the start of the month of Nisan (Shabbat ha-hodesh) and on the Seder night; (9) Shabbat zeh shabbat ha-gadol by Rabbi Sason Mordechai Shindookh, often sung by Iraqi Jews on the Sabbath before Passover (Shabbat ha-gadol); and (10) Yedidi ro‘i mekimi by Rabbi Israel Najara.

The lot also includes nine loose pages (not part of Sassoon 12) featuring ten further pizmonim written in Flora’s distinctive hand: (1) Shefal ruah, shefal berekh by Rabbi Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1058); (2) Mehallel E-l, shoreru na kol tsava; (3) the aforementioned Yedidi ro‘i mekimi; (4) Yoshev shemei shahak, beneh hatsrotai by Rabbi Israel Najara; (5) Yisra’el mi ka-mokha am; (6) E-lohei oz tehillati, refa’eni ve-erafe, an anonymously authored pizmon whose recitation was endorsed by Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi (1534-1572); (7) Y-ah ribbon alam ve-alemaya by Rabbi Israel Najara; (8) Yom ha-shabbat ein ka-mohu by a certain Mansur; (9) Tsur mi-shello akhalnu; and (10) Elav mi hikshah va-yishlam by Rabbi Abraham bar Meir.

Physical Description

33 pages (8 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.; 217 x 131 mm) on variously colored papers (pp. 3-4, 7-8, 1♊1-12, 15-16, 19-20, 23-24, 27-28, 31-32 blank); original(?) foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-inner corner of rectos (ff. 1-9); modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in lower margins at center (cited); written in Baghdadi cursive script in black ink; poetically arranged text; strikethroughs and cor🦋rections in primary hand. Slight smudging; some pages tearing (often along fold lines); mounted on modern paper; minor worming on p. 9. Modern cloth over board, slightly scuffed; paper ticket with title affixed to top of spine; paper ticket with shelf mark affixed to base of spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns. With: 9 loose pages; minor worming on p. 9.

Literature

Abraham Ben-Yaacob (ed.), Yalkut minhagim (mi-minhagei shivtei yisra’el) (Jerusalem: Ha-Madpis ha-Memshalti, 1967), availabl🌺e at: .

Abraham Ben-Yaacob et al. (eds.), Shirah u-piyyut shel yehudei bavel ba-dorot ha-aharonim: osef u-mivhar (Jerusalem: Ben-Zviඣ Institute𒈔, 1970), 88-89, 252-255.

Abraham Ben-Yaacob, Perakim be-toledot yehudei bavel: korot anaf ehad mi-mishpahat sassoon ha-bagdadit, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Olam ha-Sefer ha-Torani, 1989), 125 n.𒆙 43.

David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid: Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, vol. 1 ([Ox♈ford]: Oxford University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 1932), 247 (no. 12).