Obj. ID: 26162
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Liturgical Pentateuch, France, France, before 1348

The manuscript consists of the Pentateuch, Megillot and Haftarot. By the middle of the fourteenth century manuscripts with similar biblical contents were quite common in Ashkenazi circles inGermanyandFranceprobably made for personal use in the synagogue and at home (see Narkiss, Albenc Pentateuch, p. 320).

However, our manuscript is a rare addition since it include the text of Sefer ha-Gan, a commentary on the Pentateuch mainly based on midrashic sources, composed by R. Aaron ben Joseph ben Aaron ha-Cohen who lived in northern France in the first half of the 13th century and wrote Sefer ha-Gan around the year 1240 (see Orlian, Sefer ha-Gan, pp. 25-26). Although the ink colour of the text of Sefer ha-Gan is lighter than the rest of the text in the manuscript, there is no reason to assume that it was not an original part of the manuscript. The planning ahead of the space for Sefer ha-Gan proves that it was written at the time of the book production. On e.g. fol. 139, circles designated for Sefer ha-Gan done when ruling was prepared. It shows that all different texts in our book were planned ahead. Moreover, it seems that Sefer ha-Gan preceded the Massorah, since on fol. 234v, for example, the Massorah encloses the text of the commentary which is written in a circle at the lower part of the page.

Our Pentateuch which shows a skillful collaboration between three scribes has no colophon which states the name of the scribe and the date and place of its production. It is probable, however, that the name of the main scribe (A) is Hayyim, since the word hayyim (חיים) is marked in the text (fol. 35v) and in the catchword (fol. 8v). Schwarz ( Catalogue, No. 19) describes the script in our manuscript as a French script of the 14th century, and in the Hebrew Palaeography Project (see ZJ 19) it is suggested that the manuscript may have originated in France. Shalev-Eyni (Tripartite Mahzor, pp. 25-32) also indicated that the type of treatment of the parchment of our  manuscript, in which the hair side is noticeable, supports a French origin. Indeed, according to Beit-Arié ( Hebrew Codicology, pp. 22-23) in the end of the 12th century a new technique entered Ashkenaz, in which the differences between the hair side and the flesh side were blurred so that it was not so noticeable. InFrance, however, although the new technique was partially adopted, the old technique, in which the hair marks were still noticeable, continued to be used. If so, the hair marks in the Vienna Pentateuch support the notion of a French origin. 

Shalev-Eyni (Tripartite Mahzor, pp. 25-32) also compared our Vienna Pentateuch from palaeographic, codicologic and stylistic aspects to the Ashkenazi Duke of Sussex Pentateuch (London British Library, Add. Ms. 15282), written around 1300 in Lake Constance region,  and found a close connection between the scripts and layout of the page of these two manuscripts. These indicate a direct relationship between them and show that both scribes are rooted in the French tradition (see also Narkiss, HIM, p. 31 and Pl. 29). Although the Vienna  Pentateuch was probably also written by a scribe named Hayyim, this is not the same scribe Hayyim who copied the Tripartite Mahzor and the Duke of Sussex Pentateuch. Nevertheless, the scribes of both Pentateuch employ similar motifs in the design of the micrography. In both manuscripts, a common motif is triangular shapes with a small circle set within them. These triangles are adjacent to the upper or lower Massorah lines and their point faces outward. The triangles are arranged in a symmetric manner. Specifically similar in both manuscripts is the design of the flag of the letter lamed.  Both manuscripts also used similar models for designing the micrography, as for example, the left dragon on fol. 81v of the Vienna Pentateuch is similar to the dragon on fol. 67 of the Duke of Sussex. Both heads are roundish and large in proportion to the body, their mouths are open and they have large eyes and pointy ears.  Their foliate tails scroll around and have similar heart-shaped leaves. It would seem that the shaping of the nose in the Duke of Sussex is a less successful copy of the model than the nose that appears in the Vienna manuscript. Shalev-eyni also shows similarities in the iconography in both manuscripts. A prominent example is a ladder illustrating the text of Jacob's dream. In the Vienna manuscript (fol. 39v) the ladder is placed diagonally along the lower margin while in the Duke of Sussex (fol. 39), the ladder is designed along the outer margins.

The Vienna Pentateuch also contains two maps set in the margins of two consecutive pages (fols. 234v and 244v), illustrating the text and executed in ink. These maps are two out of four maps which often appear in a group of Ashkenazi copies of Rashi's commentary on the Bible as a separate unit, dating between the 13th and the 14th century (e.g., Rashi of Würzburg (Mϋnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 5, Vols. I & II), described in detail by Professor Narkiss (Narkiss, Rashi U'mapotav, pp. 435-439) and in four manuscripts housed in Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Cod. Hebrèus 154, 155, 161, 156, described in detail by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Sed-Rajna, Les Manuscrits Hebreux, pp. 224-232). Several manuscripts of this group are housed in the Vienna collection – see documentation in this catalog of Hebr. 12b, as well as Hebrs. 23 and 24). Our manuscript cannot be considered as part of this group, as its origin seems to be French, and it does not contain only the Rashi text, but also the text of the Pentateuch, Massorah and Targumim.

It is important to note that these maps found in Hebrew medieval manuscripts were later omitted from most of the printed editions of Rashi's commentary. 

The two maps in the Vienna Pentatuech are considered to be a pair, and most manuscripts including Rashi's maps include both of these maps (Delano-Smith and Gruber, Rashi's Legacy, p. 30). The first map in our manuscript, which is schematically drawn, illustrates Rashi's commentary to Numbers 34:3 (fol. 243v) and the second map illustrates the text of Numbers 34:2-12 and Rashi's commentary (fol. 244v), dealing with the boundaries of theLandofIsraelfrom the South, through the West and East till the North. This second map in the Vienna Pentateuch is elegantly drawn in ink and includes visual details and decorations less commonly found in copies of Rashi's maps, which are usually more schematic in nature, such as different shaped lines indicating bodies of water, fish swimming in the Great Sea, a visual depiction of Mt. Hor as a small heap over a large heap (as described by Rashi in his commentary to Numbers 20: 22, based on other sources describing the Mountain of Hor as a "mountain on top of a mountain, like a small heap above a large heap" (הר על גבי הר כתפוח קטן על גבי תפוח גדול), trefoil arches, gables, turrets of a tower and a decorated gouache band. Another copy of this map which also includes particular visual details and decoration can be found in a fourteenth century Provencal Pentateuch, housed in the Biblioteca Laurentiana in Florence(Ms. Plaut 3.10 appearing in Delano-Smith and Gruber, Rashi's Legacy, p. 33).  It is interesting to note that in the Vienna Pentateuch, the compartment designated for the location "the entrance of Hamath" ((לבא חמת, is inscribed instead "Antiochia" אנטוכיא, which appears in Rashi's commentary (as well as in other commentaries) and was probably the metropolis of the country known as Hamath (ארץ חמת).  Most of the other copies of the map retained the inscription "the entrance of Hamath" (לבא חמת) for this country, according to the biblical text and do not inscribe the compartment with the name of אנטוכיא.

Another variant appearing in this map in the Vienna Pentateuch is the addition of a second inscription under "Mt.Hor" (הר ההר), marking the location of "Turi Amnom" (טורי אמנום).  This is based on Rashi's commentary to the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Gittin, 8a, in which he brings the Yerushalmi translation forMt.Hor as "Turi Amnon" ( טורי אמנון).  This location is not often marked in the copies of Rashi's maps but appears for example in the map drawn on fol. 140 the Rashi of Würzburg (Mϋnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 5, Vols. I).

Several years after our Vienna Pentateuch was copied in France, the manuscript reached Provence. This is indicated by the inscription found on fol. 362v (see History). There, during the Black Plague (1349), the manuscript was brought to the city of Igish (איגש), after it was saved from a fire which broke out in the community of Melanma D'shatron (מלנמא דשטרון)". Shalev-Eyni suggests, that it is possible that the manuscript reached Provence as a result of the expulsion of the Jews during the first quarter of the 14th century (1306, 1322).