The story of a Jewish mother and her seven sons, who died at the hands of a cruel ruler rather than violate the Torah’s prohibition against idolatry, is first recorded in the seventh chapter of II Maccabees but was generally known to medieval Jews from secondary and tertiary sources like the Talmud, midrashim, and Sefer yosippon. As one of the most powerful and poignant Jewish martyrological tales, it was introduced into the liturgy of various communities for the Sabbath of Hanukkah and/or for the night of the fast of Tish‘ah be-Av. A Judeo-Arabic kinah (elegy) for the latter, entitled Quṣṣat ḥannah wa-sab‘at awlada(ha), was composed by an anonymous author, probably in Baghdad, and circulated widely in various adaptations both in manuscript and in print (editio princeps: Livorno, 1840). With time, the poem reached Arabic-speaking communities in Syria, the Land of Israel, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco and was ev🌞en translated into Kurdish Neo-Aramaic in the twentieth century. 

The present lot is a rare, richly decorated, pocket-sized copy of Quṣṣat ḥannah wa-sab‘at awlada(ha), apparently produced in Baghdad in the nineteenth century. Its bright color scheme includes blue, green, red, yellow, and purple pigments, and floral motifs are interspersed throughout. The first two pages are particularly ornate, with a stylized menorah inscribed with the text of psalm 67 appearing on p. 2. The manuscript was acquired by David Solomon Sassoon on November 24, 1926, and thereafter (re)b🐽ound.

Physical Description

16 pages (5 x 3 1/2 in.; 126 x 96 mm) on lined paper; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in lower margins at center; written in Baghdadi square (title-page text, headers, and incipits) and cursive (text body) scripts in colored and black inks, respectively; single-column text of ten lines per page; justification of lines via insertion of space fillers; headers. Scattered staining; some smudginꦡg and transfer of colored and black inks; small imperfection in upper edge of pp. 13-14. Modern half-leather over thin boards, slightly worn and warped; paper ticket with title affixed to top of spine; paper ticket with shelf mark affixed to base of spine; modern paper flyleaf on upper board and modern paper pastedowns.

Literature

Yitzhak Avishur, “Qiṣṣatit hannah ba-aramit turgemah me-aravit-yehudit bagdadit,” Pe‘amim 9 (1981): 125-129.

Gerson Cohen, “Ma‘aseh hannah ve-shiv‘at baneha ba-sifrut ha-ivrit,” in Sefer ha-yovel li-kevod mordekhai menahem kaplan li-melot lo shiv‘im shanah (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of ♛America, 1953), 109-122, at p. 122 (no. 7) (Hebrew section).

Ratzon Halevi, “Sippur hannah ve-shiv‘at baneha—quṣṣat ḥannah wa-sab‘at awladaha,” Tehudah 15 (1995): 64-72.

Hartwig Hirschfeld, “Jewish Arabic Liturgies,” The Jewish Quarterly Review 6,1 (October 1893): 119-135.

Vered Madar, “Ma Khabar and Qussat Ḥannah: A Gendered Reading of Two Stories in the Culture of Yemenite Jewish Women,” Nashim 11 (Spring 5766/2006): 84-104.

Vered Madar, “Mah bein sippur yetsi’at mitsrayim le-sippur hannah ve-shiv‘at baneha be-tarbut ha-nashim ha-yehudiyyot be-teiman,” in Ayelet Ettinger and Danny Bar-Maoz (eds.), Mi-tuv yosef: sefer ha-yovel li-kevod yosef tobi, vol. 2 (𝄹Haifa: University of Haifa, 2011), 241-270.

Uri Melammed (ed. and trans.), Quṣṣat ḥannah we-sab‘at awladaha: ma‘aseh hannah ve-shiv‘at baneha (Beit Dagan, Israel: Beit ha-Keneset Po‘alei Tseไdek, 2011).

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: Humph🅷rey Milford, 1932), 1034 (no.💛 907).

Apparently not recorded in Meir Benayahu, Sefarim she-nithabberu be-bavel u-sefarim she-ne‘etku bah (Jerusalem: Yad Harav Nissim; Merkaz 🦩Moreshet Ya🐽hadut Bavel, 1993).