Obj. ID: 53407
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Divrei Torah, Sadhora (Sadagóra, Sadigora, Sadgora), 1867

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Hassidic movement that developed in the 18th century was very widespread in Poland and the Ukraine. The adherents of this Jewish religious philosophy were generally grouped around the courts of certain rabbis, one of whom was the Rabbi of Ruzhin. Manuscripts from these groups exist, but few of them are decorated. This manuscript of "Divrei Torah" with its exquisite decorated title page was a gift from a Hassidic Jew to his rabbi, the Ruzhiner Nachum Dov Friedmann in Sadegora, one of the sons of Rabbi Israel Friedman, the founder of the Ruzhiner dynasty. The exquisite script of the manuscript is so neat and consistent as to resemble a printed book.  There is the stamp from the rabbi's personal library and another stamp indicating that the book was a gift to him.

This manuscript of "Divrei Torah” has an elaborate illuminated title page, a very unusual phenomenon in a Hassidic manuscript of the Ruzhiner court.  The imagery includes Moses and Aaron on the sides and the griffins above as so often seen in Galician imagery.  Below is a town scene, probably representing Sadegora, which is mentioned above as the place of origin. The text was published in Warsaw, 1903, in the book "Razin Deoraita".

Pages: 15