Vol. I, fol. 13v: The initial word Vayera (ויֵרָא, and the Lord appeared) of this parashah (Gen. 18:1-22:24) is written above the illustration in gold leaf on a deep blue ground and set below the explicit of Lekh-Lecha (חסלת לך לך) and its haftarah (ומפטירין בישעיה למה תאמר יעקב).
The panel depicts the three angels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael according to Rashi, who visited Abraham, illustrating the biblical text (Gen. 18:1-2) and the commentary (I:13v-14; based on Bava Metzia 86b).
On the right, the bearded Abraham is standing on the plain of Mamre, outside a stylized town with a tall gate and a lower adjacent building. He is wearing a long magenta tunic with a gold collar, a blue mantle and a pointed red hat, partly erased. He welcomes the three angels with his right hand and holds an open scroll in his left.
The angels are dressed in tunic and pallium in contrasting colours of red and blue, magenta and blue, and blue and white. One wing is shown for each, and the right hand of the first is raised in blessing, seemingly with two fingers. The wing and foot of the angel on the left extend beyond the panel and he holds a scroll corresponding to Abraham's, but neither scroll is inscribed.
In the centre of the composition is a stylized tree with a rounded top, representing an oak (Gen. 18:1), which separates Abraham from the angels.
Barely discernible plummet inscriptions in Latin by a 13th-century hand and by a later hand in Hebrew square script:
- left of לך לך: וירא (Vayera).
- below it: V[iri]s[tantes] ? (Gen. 18:2).
Scribe A, Solomon (שלמה) wrote his name in the text in large letters and decorated it with a curling extension (fol. 13v, 1st column - fig. 1). He emphasized this name whenever it appears in the text (cf. I:69v, 163v, 201v, 202v; II:127v, 133, 136v, 228v, 250v; Beit-Arié 2006).
 |
|
Fig. 1: The decorated name of scribe A, Solomon (שלמה) MunichRashi's Commentary on the Bible Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, I:13v |
| Cod. hebr. 5/I-II (Steinschneider 1895, No. 5)
A similar composition with a stylized city on the right and a central tree (fig. 1) is found in the Ingeborg Psalter of c.1200 (fig. 2). In the Morgan Psalter of c.1200 (fig. 3) which was illuminated by one of the Ingeborg Psalter artists, the city is missing. An earlier example with a similar composition, though reversed, is found on the altar of Nicholas of Verdun of 1181 in Klosterneuburg Abbey, Austria (fig. 4). Even the central tree, albeit small, separates Abraham from the angels, although the scroll is held by an angel and not by Abraham. Fig. 1: Abraham greeting the angels Fig. 2: Abraham greeting the angels (upper register) Munich Rashi's Commentary on the Bible Ingeborg Psalter Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, I:13v North-east France, c.1195 Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 9, fol. 10v (Ingeborg Psalter, facsimile 1985) Fig. 3: Abraham and the three angels Fig. 4: Abraham and the three angels Morgan Psalter Verdun Altar, 1181 North-east France, c.1200 Austria, Klosterneuburg Abbey New York, PML M.338, fol. 188 (Buschhausen 1980, p. 21, pl. 1) (Deuchler 1967, fig. 141) Fig. 5: Top register: Abraham and the three angels Lower register: Abraham's hospitality The North French Hebrew Miscellany, c.1280 London, BL Add. 11639, fol. 118 (Schonfield, facsimile 2003, p. 83) The North French Hebrew Miscellany of c.1280 (fig. 5, top register) also presents a similar composition. Here, instead of a tree between Abraham and the angels, a city gate separates them and Abraham is within a curtained interior, perhaps alluding to his tent. The three figures in the Hebrew Miscellany are shown as men, as in the Bible (Gen. 18:1), and not as angels as interpreted by Rashi and shown with wings in our miniature, similar to the Ingeborg and the Morgan Psalters. It is interesting to note that the first angel in these three manuscripts raises his right hand in the Christian two-fingered blessing, not the entire hand as in the Hebrew Miscellany. Apparently the iconography of our Abraham and the three Angels was inspired by Mosan and north French illustrations.
 |
 |
|
Fig. 1: Abraham greeting the angels MunichRashi's Commentary on the Bible Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, I:13v |
Fig. 2: Abraham greeting the angels (upper register) Ingeborg Psalter North-east France, c.1195 Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 9, fol. 10v (Ingeborg Psalter, facsimile 1985) |
 |
 |
|
Fig. 3: Abraham and the three angels Morgan Psalter North-east France, c.1200 NewYork, PML M.338, fol. 188 (Deuchler 1967, fig. 141) |
Fig. 4: Abraham and the three angels Verdun Altar, 1181 Austria, Klosterneuburg Abbey (Buschhausen 1980, p. 21, pl. 1) |
 |
|
|
Fig. 5: Top register: Abraham and the three angels Lower register: Abraham's hospitality The North French Hebrew Miscellany, c.1280 London, BL Add. 11639, fol. 118 (Schonfield, facsimile 2003, p. 83) |