Obj. ID: 26165
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts Vienna Genesis, Exodus and Haftarot, Ashkenaz, 15th century
The Vienna Genesis, Exodus and Haftarot contains the books of Genesis and Exodus surrounded by Rashi's commentary as well as the haftarot readings for both of these books, all written in square Ashkenazi script in several sizes, by one main scribe and two other additional scribes. In addition, the Vienna Genesis, Exodus and Haftarot also includes two single leaves, preceding the haftarot, on which are written the blessings accompanying the reading of the scroll of Esther on Purim. The punctuator of the manuscript mentions in his colophon that he completed his work on "Genesis, Exodus, The Scroll and the Haftarot" (fol. 1, See: Colophon) and so it would seem that the manuscript originally also included the Scroll of Esther, and this was either lost or removed at some point in time, and only the two leaves of the blessings accompanying the reading of the scroll remained.
It remains unclear what the function of such a manuscript containing only these specific texts might have been, since in most cases a manuscript of this type would tend to include all five books of the Pentateuch rather than only the first two as appear in our Viennamanuscript. Also surprising is the addition of only the Scroll of Esther, rather than all five scrolls, as typically found in manuscripts of this type. It is rare to find medieval Ashkenazi manuscripts containing only these specific texts, among which can be found the Copenhagen Ashkenazi Pentateuch (Copenhagen, The Royal Library, Cod. Hebr. 14) dating to the 14th-15th century. This manuscript contains the texts of Genesis, Exodus, Haftarot and the Scroll of Esther, with Rashi commentary. Besides these texts, the Copenhagen manuscript also contains the Massorah Magna, Massorah Parva and the translation to Aramaic of Unkelus, all of which do not appear in the Vienna manuscript. Another manuscript, dating to 1246 containing similar texts is housed in Moscow (Russian State Library, Ms. Guenzburg 1504). However, this manuscript also contains the Massorah Magna, Massorah Parva and the translation to Aramaic of Unkelus but does not contain Rashi's commentary.
The portions of the Bible appearing in the haftarot of the Vienna Genesis, Exodus and Haftarot reveal that they mostly follow the Ashkenazi rite, with a few slight variations. It is interesting to note that the haftarah reading for a wedding and the haftarah reading for the second day of Sukkot both follow the Italian rite. Both of these haftarot are p art of the sections written by scribe B who was responsible for the copying of the blessings accompanying the reading of the Scroll of Esther on Purim (fol. 138) and the special haftarot (fols. 168-170).
The manuscript includes several inscriptions indicating that the punctuator was Barukh (perhaps also with the name Hisda) son of David the Cohen. One of the inscriptions (fol. 1) mentions the date of 1406 (according to Shwartz's reading, 1407) and another the date of 1443. It would seem then that the manuscript was written sometime either during, or after the year 1406, and most probably either before the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century.
The decoration of the Vienna Genesis, Exodus and Haftarot is simple, including two initial words written in large display letters, one of which is surrounded by crude wriggly work which forms a panel around the word and extends below the initial word, framing the entire main text of the page (fol. 2). This crude decoration may have been executed by the punctuator, Barukh, or by a different later hand. Two?? simple faces are incorporated within the wriggly work. The decoration also includes the text of the Rashi commentary formed in different geometrical shapes.
sub-set tree:
Vellum, II+170+II leaves Measurements Full page: 310 x 230 mm Main text: c. 190 x 105mm Rashi commentary: (210-265) x (50-60)mm Scribes The main text was written by one main scribe and two other scribes who each wrote several sections. The punctuation and the inscriptions on the opening page were written by an additional hand: Scribe A Inscriptions and pen trials Fol. 1 Scribe B Text of Genesis and Exodus Fols. 2-137v Scribe C Text of blessings for Fol. 138 the reading of Esther Scroll; Special Haftarot. Fols. 168-170; Scribe D Haftarot for Genesis and Exodus.Fols. 139-167v; The Rashi commentary was written by three hands: Hand 1: fols. 2-8v (till חסלת בראשית) Hand 2: fols. 8v-106 Hand 3: fols. 106v-137v Script Main text written in square Ashkenazi script in brown ink Rashi commentary written in semi-cursive Ashkenazi script in dark brown ink Number of lines Main text of Pentateuch: 21 lines in one column Haftarot (fols. 139-167v): 19 lines in two text columns Special Haftarot (fols. 168-170):34-35 lines in one text column Rashi commentary: 39-50 lines Ruling Ruling in plummet (on either side). 2+2 vertical lines for main text. 3+2 or 2+2 or 2+1 or 1+1 vertical lines for commentary. For Pentateuch, usually 22 horizonal lines. Haftarot: 20 horizontal lines. Commentary: 39-52 horizontal lines. Pricking Discernable in all the margins. Quires 21 quires of 8 leaves each, except for quire XVIII8+2 (fols. 137, 138 are single leaves) Catchwords Catchwords for quires are set at in the left hand corner of the final verso of almost all the quires (e.g. quire XIV, fol. 112v where the quire was probably cut off by a later binder) Hebrew numeration None Blank leaves None
The decoration was executed by a very crude hand, mostly in black ink (perhaps by the punctuator or by the annotator, who wrote in a crude hand the inscription at the top of fol. 2, see: History).
- Two initial words, for the opening of each book. Both words are written in large display letters with circles set on the junctions of the letter. One is written in ersatz gold and surrounded by crude wriggly work which forms a panel around the word and extends below the initial word, framing the entire main text of the page and incorporating within the wriggly work two simple busts (fol. 2) while the other is written in black ink and is undecorated (fol. 72v).
- Shaped text of Rashi commentary (e.g., fols. 8v- 9v, 10, 12, 14, 30, 31, 31v, 32, 33, 34v-37v, 39-40, 43, 44, 44v, 46, 47, 47v, 48, 49, 49v, 50, 50v, 51, 53v, 55v, 56, 56v, 57, 57v, 58-60v, 61, 63, 63v, 64, 64v, 65, 66, 66v, 67, 67v, 68, 71, 71v, 72, 74, 74v, 75, 75v, 76, 76v, 77, 77v, 78v, 80v, 81, 81v, 86v, 87, 88v, 89, 90, 90v, 92, , 106, 114, 114v, 115, 115v, 117v, 118v, 119, 119v, 126, 126v, 127v, 128, 130, 132, 136, 137). The text forms mostly the shapes of triangles, diamonds, columns or circles.