University of Pennsylvania, Halper 121
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Metadata
- DS ID:
- DS25637
- Shelfmark:
- Halper 121
- Title:
- Book of precepts, vol. 3
- Ḥefeẓ ben Yaẓliʼaḥ, active 10th century
- Place:
- Orient
- Date:
- 11th century-12th century?
- Language:
- Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew
- Material:
- restored; bifolia and fascicles erroneously reconstructed
- Physical Description:
- Extent: 37 fols. : restored; bifolia and fascicles erroneously reconstructed
- Note:
- The manuscript, presented by Jacob ben Isaac ha-Levi to his son (as is written on the back page) may have included this fascicle as well.
Original quiring: fasc. 1, fols. 1-4 (4 fols. = 2 bifolia); fasc. 2, fols. 5-12 (8 fols. = 3 bifolia, 1/2 bifolium, 1/2 bifolium [both pasted to fasc. 3]); fasc. 3, fols. 13-22 (10 fols. = 5 bifolia); fasc. 4, fols. 23-32 (10 fols. = 5 bifolia); fasc. 5, fols. 33 -37 (original configuration indeterminable).
Current quiring [after restoration]: fasc. 1, fols. 1-6 (6 fols. = 3 bifolia); fasc. 2, fols. 7-12 (6 fols. = 3 bifolia); fasc. 3, fols. 13-18 (6 fols. = 3 bifolia); fasc. 4, fols. 18-24 (6 fols. = 3 bifolia); fasc. 5, fols. 25 -30 (6 fols. = 3 bifolia); fasc. 6, fols. 31-37 (7 fols. = 3 bifolia, 1/2 bifolium).
The first 2 fols. from fasc. 2 are lacking.
Each fascicle is numbered in the first page and has a catchword at the bottom of the last one. The first two folios of the first fascicle (presumably: א) are missing. Fascicles ב and ג have ten folios each. Fascicle ד has only 4 leaves, and although fol. 32a ends in the middle of a sentence, its verso is empty, which indicates that this is the end of this manuscript copy. Text breaks are...
The first four leaves of the fragment contain 6 responsa in Judeo-Arabic, with citations of Talmudic sources, the first and last are incomplete.
1. (fol. 1a) The end of a responsum about acceptance by proxy of a divorce bill. See Alfasi Gittin 29a in the name of R. Ḥai Gaʾon.
2. (fol. 1b) On the prohibition of betrothal celebrations in the intermediate days of Festivals. This responsum is cited in Hebrew in the name of R. Ḥai Gaon, in the halakhot of Isaac Ibn Ghiyyat (1038-1089): Shaʹare śimḥah / Yitsḥaḳ ibn Giyat. Fürth : s.n., 1861-1862, pt. II, p. 14, see also Lewin: Otsar ha-geʾonim / Benjamin Manasseh Lewin. Haifa, Jerusalem, 1928-1942, v. 4, p. 24 item no. 56.
3. (fol. 1b-2a) On the obligation to rescue a Jew sentenced to death in a non-Jewish court.
4 . (fol. 2b-4a) A lengthy responsum on the baking of matzah by a qualified non-jew, with digressions on the Talmudic conditions that prevent leavening, and the amount of dough that requires ḥalah.
5. (fol. 4b) On the obstruction of public prayer until the grievances of an individual are redressed.
6. (fol. 4b) The first two lines of a question on the custom to arrive before services on Sabbath and Festivals to recite Psalms. All of the responsa start: וסאלת.=500 |A fragment from the third volume of this work, it contains from the eighth Commandment of the third section (פצל) of part 3, to the third Commandment of the 5th section.
The association with the halakhic work often cited in Medieval sources as Sefer Ḥefets, was suggested by Halper, but refuted. See Assaf: Terkufat ha-ge.onim ṿe-sifrutah / Simha Assaf. Jerusalem : Mosad ha-Rav Ḳuḳ, 1955, p. 205-207; N. Danzig, Jewish Quarterly Review, v. 82 (1991), p. 54-60.
Fol.37 is blank except for the signature of one of the owners, Jacob ben Isaac ha-Levi, who presented it to his only son (37r). The verso was used as scrap paper for recording accounts, in Judeo-Arabic.
Cairo Genizah Collection (University of Pennsylvania. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Library).
Cairo Genizah Collection (Dropsie College. Library).
Adler.
Jacob ben Isaac ha-Levi. - Keyword:
- Institutional Record:
- https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9940418103503681
- IIIF Manifest:
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p39c6sk1g/manifest
- Holding Institution:
