Obj. ID: 23159
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Vienna Miscellany, Germany, c.1402/3

The Vienna Miscellany is a codex of large dimensions, containing more than 500 pages and over a dozen texts, copied by numerous scribes and decorated on many folios. Among the more well-known texts to be found in the Vienna Miscellany are a Pentateuch and Haftarot accompanied by Rashi's commentary, a SeMaK (Sefer Mitzvot Katan), a siddur for the entire year and several important treatises. The text appearing on fols. 351-373 is titled above as "a book of customs" (ספר מנהגים) and was identified by Zunz (Ritus, p. 202) as the text of Sefer Hamachkim composed by Rabbi Nathan son of Rabbi Yehuda in the 13th century. The version of this text found in our Vienna Miscellany later served as the main basis for the critical edition of Sefer ha-Machkim published by Freimann (see Bibliography). Several of the texts are less well-known such as the text found on fol. 312, titled above "Customs I have toiled over and found" ((מנהגים אשר יגעתי ומצאתי. In this text, Speyer in the Rhenish Palatinate in Germany is mentioned as well as R. Isaac bar Dorbelo, a pupil of Rabbenu Tam who was active in the 12th century in France and in Germany.

On many of the pages several texts appear simultaneously, written in different columns of varying sizes and shapes.  It is clear from this complex layout of the texts that such a miscellany must have been copied by skillful scribes who were familiar with these texts to such a degree that they could design several intertwining columns of various texts on a single page, in a complicated format known to us only later from printed books. The use of a complex system of columns for different halachik texts appears in several other manuscripts produced around the same period as our Miscellany, as can be seen for example in the SeMaK with commentary copied in Germany, 1398? (Paris, BN, Hébreu, 388, fol. 142; Garel, Manuscrits Hebreux, p. 121) and a Mahzor and Halachik treatises produced in Ashkenaz around 1390 (Paris, BN, Hébreu 646, fol. 38v; Sed-Rajna, Les Manuscrits Hebreux, p. 221, no. 85). The fact that the paleographic research revealed that many scribes were involved in the copying of the manuscript, and certainly no less than a dozen scribes, may indicate that this miscellany was produced in some sort of Jewish scribal workshop or family production, being passed between the different scribes. For example, when studying the work process, it's clear that Scribe A (Shalom?) copied the main text from fols. 1-385v. However, Scribes C, D and L appear within the sections copied by Scribe A, so that the manuscript must have been passed between them and Scribe A. Scribe B (Hayyim) then added additional texts in the margins of Scribe A and copied the main texts on fols. 418-491v. 

Of the numerous scribes involved in copying the Vienna Miscellany, only two can be identified by name. Scribe A was most probably Shalom (שלום) as the scribe decorated this name when appearing in the text (e.g. fol. 44). A second scribe copied several sections (See Scribes, above) and identifies himself as Hayyim son of Rabbi David (see fols. 311, 311v, 373, 491v). The name Ya'akov is also decorated twice on the final line of the two outer text columns on fol. 44. However, the text of this page was clearly copied by Scribe A, Shalom, so it would seem probable that the marking of the name Ya'akov indicates either Shalom's father, or perhaps an annotator. The name Baruch (ברוך) is also marked on fol. 230, within the section copied by Scribe B, Hayyim, probably as a blessing.

The exact place and time of production of the Vienna Miscellany remain uncertain. The texts of marriage and divorce agreements appear several times in the Miscellany (e.g., fols. 286v, 496v, 497). These forms were meant to serve as examples, and may have been copied from earlier documents, thus the information which can be deduced from them is partial and can only serve as tentative evidence regarding the dates and origin of production. Two of the divorce agreements include full dates:  the one on fol. 496v copied by scribe J records the date of Thursday, 21st of Tevet, the year of 5151 (29/12/1390) while the one on fol. 497 by scribe K records the date of Thursday, 13th of Shevat, 5107 (25/1/1347). In addition to these dates, the year 1403 ((קס"ג is mentioned in the instructions for the calendar on fol. 350, written by scribe F. According to these dates, as well as from the nature of the script, it can be assumed that the manuscript was not copied before the year 1403. The divorce examples mention two cities –Strasbourg (fol. 286v) andZurich (fol. 496v, 497). It is clear that the manuscript could not have been produced inStrasbourg, as the Jews of Strasbourg were expelled from the city at the end of 1388. This indicates that at least the city ofStrasbourg was most likely copied by the scribe from his model.  Although there existed a Jewish community in Zurich at the time, the fact that the name of one of the cities was copied from a model, may indicate that the other city was also mentioned in the model, and cannot supply us with a specific place of origin. 

It is interesting to note the special combination and layout of the Pentateuch text together with the texts of Rashi's commentary and the SeMaK, in a most unique manner. Unlike the typical Ashkenazi layout in which the Pentateuch text is written in the center and the Rashi commentary surrounds it in the margins, the Vienna Miscellany is a rare example in which the Rashi commentary is inserted in between the lines of the Pentateuch text, so that the biblical verses alternate with the commentary. The two texts are written within the same columns, but are clearly discernable from one another, as the Pentateuch verses are written in square script and the Rashi in semi-cursive script. 

The source of this rare layout of the Pentateuch and Rashi texts, may be originally related the differences in attitudes between French and German Jewry, in relation to the importance of the Targum Onkelus. According to Shalev-Eyni (Jews Among Christians, In Print), the German Pentateuchs usually included the Aramaic Onkelus translation, inserted verse by verse within the main text, alternating with the Hebrew verse. These sometimes also included the Rashi commentary in the margins, although not as a rule. From the middle of the thirteenth century on, the French scholars tended to prefer Rashi’s commentary as a substitute for the Aramaic translation. The Pentateuchs produced in France of this time, often appear without the Targum Onkelus or include also the Rashi commentary in their margins. In the case of the Vienna Miscellany, the French attitude towards the hierarchy between the two texts is made clear, with the Rashi commentary given the place of greater importance – the Targum is moved from the main columns to the margins, while the Rashi receives the traditional place of the Targum Onkelus and is set in between the biblical verses.

One of the main texts appearing in the Vienna Miscellany is the Small Book of Precepts, known as the SeMaK, composed by Isaac son of Joseph of Corbeil (died: 1280). Our copy of the text of the SeMaK includes the annotations by Moses of Zurich, known as the "SeMaK of Zurich", which consist of a selection from the works of German and French scholars which were added to the original text of the SeMaK. The interspersing of the SeMaK text between the biblical verses, sometimes several pages at a time, is unique. This points to the fact that the miscellany must have been intended for scholarly use, as the text of the SeMaK is broken up and divided into sections in such a manner that the precepts appear subsequent to the biblical verses to which they are relevant, according to subject, in a manner that suits the needs of scholarly study. This is in contrast to the more commonly found method of listing the precepts, according to the seven days of the week (See for exampleVienna, ÖNB, Cod. Hebr. 75).

The texts of theVienna manuscript mention many Rabbis of France and Ashkenaz. In addition, the section of the siddur, several notes within the commentary refer to the difference between the Ashkenazi and French customs (see Scribal Notes). 

The decoration of the Vienna Miscellany was executed at the same stage as the production of the codex and was most probably the work of one or more of the scribes involved in copying the manuscript, very possibly scribe A (Shalom), as the decoration indicating his name, appearing on fol. 42, is similar to the turrets flanking the trefoil arch in the decoration in the margin of fol. 80. The decoration program of the Vienna Miscellany consists mainly of initial words and letters and pen-work decorations inserted within the text space. Several initial words and letters are shaped in a manner emulating the Gothic script, sometimes found in other Hebrew manuscripts of the period. The letters appearing in the Vienna Miscellany on fols. 280, 281v, 282 can be compared to similar ones appearing for example on fol. 109v in a copy of a Talmud Katan (Abridged Talmud) by R. Isaac Alfasi attributed according to Mann (Prague Jewry, pp. 85-86, fig. 7.5) to Bohemia, Prague(?), c. 1380-1400, housed in Paris (Paris, BN, Hébreu 311; Sed Rajna, Ibid., p. 237, no. 93) and those found on fol. 92 of the Mahzor produced in Ashkenaz in 1390 (Paris, BN, Hébreu 646; Sed-Rajna, Ibid., p. 223, no. 85).

Also prevalent in the Vienna Miscellany is a type of decoration in which the text of the commentary column is shaped and outlined, so that the lines of the text follow the shape of the outline. Many marginal illustrations in manuscripts from Ashkenaz of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries display the Massorah magna text outlined by micrography, whereas in our Miscellany we find the use of a decoration form, in which the commentary text is shaped in figurative or geometrical forms. According to Narkiss (Albenc Pentateuch, pp. 330), this type of decoration has some antecedents in Franco-German Hebrew manuscripts. An early example of this type of decoration for a commentary text appears for example on fols. 8v, 10v, 11 of A Hazzan's Siddur, produced in Franconia in the first quarter of the fourteenth century (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mich.571). This special type of decoration is also found, according to Narkiss (Ibid., pp. 331) in a group of manuscripts attributed to southern France, dating between the 14th-15th centuries. For example, we can compare the text shaped as dragons and hybrids on fols. 236, 318v of our Miscellany with similar dragons and hybrids adorning folios 3v, 46v, 72v of the Albenc Pentateuch, produced in 1340 in Dauphine (Oxford, Bodliean Library, Ms. Oppenheimer 14; see Narkiss, Ibid., pp. 319-351). A similar winged dragon drawn in this technique also appears for example on fol. 133v of the Multiscribe Pentateuch (e.g., fol. 133v), produced in Dauphine, c. 1340 (British Library, Add. 26878). Later, we see the continuation of the use of this technique in the copy of a Talmud Katan (Abridged Talmud) by R. Isaac Alfasi attributed according to Mann (Ibid., pp. 85-86, fig. 7.5) to Bohemia, Prague(?), c. 1380-1400, housed in Paris (Paris, BN, Hébreu 311; Sed-Ra