Img. ID: 40938

Fol. 39v: An illustration executed by Scribe A in the lower margin of the musaf prayers for New Year depicts Moses with the Tablets of the Law as an illustration for the Torah mentioned in the text five lines above: ובתורתך כתוב לאמר (in your Law it is written), as well as on the next facing page (fol. 40 line 6): ותן חלקנו בתורתך (and give us a part in your Law). It is also possible that the scribe wanted to make a connection between the Revelation onMount Sinai(Ex. 19:16-20), when the sound of horn was heard, and the blowing of the horn next to the instructions on the opposite page (fol. 40).

Moses is portrayed as a hybrid with spread wings, a man’s face and the hooves of a calf. He is bearded and wears a red pointed Jewish hat. His right wing touches two large tablets, depicted as an arched diptych, joined together by two black clasps. The green tablets are framed in red. Moses is standing on the back of an elongated winged hybrid which is biting the tail of another hybrid on the left. Biting Moses' hat is a third winged hybrid with a long tail. The wings and calf-hooves are abbreviated attributes of a cherub, but this is a unique representation of Moses. On the other hand, the round-topped Tablets of the Law frequently appear in Jewish Art (Mellinkoff 1974:28-43).