Obj. ID: 49847
  Ephemera Poem, Italy, circa 1800
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
Italian Jewry had a particular fondness for the composition of Hebrew poems and texts. The inspiration for the writing or printing of such texts was to honor or commemorate different events in Jewish life. The result is a large number of single manuscript or printed pages, often with decorative elements as well as text. This extensive use of the Hebrew language in such creative ways is a marked characteristic of Italian Jewry between the 16th and 19th centuries.
This often expressed itself in special prayers created for occasional use. In this example there is a written poem in honor of a Society and some individuals, apparently a companion piece to Gross Family Collection 121.011.015, which is dedicated to the same society. It is written, except for the name of the Society, in a cursive script in 10 stanzas. This page was found folded inside a very large Machzor printed in Venice in 1712.