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A SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF JUDAEO-PERSIANMANUSCRIPTS
VERA BASCH MOREEN
T H E field of Judaeo-Persian studies is still underdeveloped,
as most Judaeo-Persian textscontinue to lie buried in uncatalogued
collections of manuscripts scattered throughoutthe world. Although
their importance was already recognized at the end of the
nineteenthcentury,^ and despite the fact that they constitute one
of the largest untapped groups ofJewish vernacular texts in Hebrew
characters, Judaeo-Persian texts continue to be littleknown and
studied. Significant numbers of Judaeo-Persian manuscripts can be
found inmajor European libraries, such as the British Library
(formerly the British MuseumLibrary), the Bibliotheque Nationale in
Paris, and the library of the Institute of OrientalStudies and the
Russian National Library (formerly the Saltykov-Shchedrin
Library),both at St Petersburg. The largest collections are those
of the Jewish National andUniversity Library and the library of the
Ben Zvi Institute, both in Jerusalem, thelibrary of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, New York, and the Klau Libraryof
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. It is also known that many
Judaeo-Persianmanuscripts are still privately owned in and outside
Iran; some of these continue totrickle into the libraries just
mentioned.^
The British Library's manuscripts in Judaeo-Persian, or
containing some text in thislanguage, acquired from various
sources, were first described in several catalogues andstudies by
G. Margoliouth and others at the end of the nineteenth century and
thebeginning of the twentieth. Special mention must be made of the
Judaeo-Persianfragment, a mercantile document, discovered at the
turn of the century by Sir AurelStein at Dandan-Uilik, in East
Turkestan, in the region of Khotan (Sinkiang). Thisfragment. Or.
MS. 8212, has been the subject of some scholarly attention; dated
byD. S. Margoliouth as circa A. D. 718, it is the earliest
Judaeo-Persian manuscript inexistence. A few more Judaeo-Persian
manuscripts were added to the Museum'scollection in the first
decades of the century, including a very early manuscript. Or.
MS.8659, perhaps from the twelfth century or earlier, acquired in
1920 from the orientalistA. S. Yahuda. Some Judaeo-Persian Genizah
fragments. Or. MS. 5557(z), of much laterdate, were also acquired
by the Museum early in the century. The holdings of Judaeo-Persian
were considerably enriched in 1925 by the addition of no less than
twentymanuscripts from the collection of Moses Gaster. In 1966, the
late curator of Hebrewmanuscripts, Dr Joseph Rosenwasser, published
a short but comprehensive catalogue,
71
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jfudaeo-Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, providing
brief descriptive notes ontorty-five items containing more than
seventy-five different texts, previously inaccessiblein a single
bibliographic tool.^
On a recent visit to the British Library, I had occasion to
examine ten manuscripts notdescribed by Rosenwasser, acquired after
his time, and to prepare the followingsupplement to his
compilation.* As can be seen, most of these manuscripts are of
latedate, from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries.
Pride of place among thembelongs to Or. MS. 13704, a fine
illuminated copy of 'Imranl's epic, Fath-namah, or'The Book of
Conquest'. Formerly a Sassoon manuscript, it is one of the
loveliestexamples of Judaeo-Persian manuscript illumination. The
contents of most of the othermanuscripts, some of them donated by
the Valmadonna Trust in London, can be foundin many other copies.
It may be noted that two of the manuscripts. Or. MSS. 13189
andi4595> are on blue and greenish paper, respectively, such as
is often to be encounteredin Judaeo-Persian manuscripts, especially
from Bukhara.^
It remains only to mention two other British Library
manuscripts, not listed below,to which attention has otherwise not
yet been drawn in the context of Judaeo-Persian.^The first is a
Hebrew manuscript in which a single Judaeo-Persian gloss has
beenidentified: the famous manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, perhaps
the most ancient of theearly codices. Or. MS. 4445. Although the
manuscript itself is said to be of the earlytenth century, the
gloss in Judaeo-Persian, written in the space between Exodus
7:22and 8:1, is in a later hand.^ The second item, not related
directly to the subject ofJudaeo-Persian, but of some marginal
interest on account of its script, is a leatherfragment containing
Pahlavi text in Aramaic characters. Or. MS. 8115. It is the
onlyPahlavi text in Aramaic script preserved in the collections of
the British Library.^
SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF JUDAEO-PERSIAN MSS.0-
Or. 13189 Ma'asiyot ['tales'] in Judaeo-Persian prose.^ The
manuscript is imperfect,lacking the beginning, and many pages are
stained and damaged. Bluepaper. Probably XlXth century. 209 f. 17.4
x 10.3 cm.
Or. 13190 A section of the fourteenth-century epic by Shahm of
ShTraz, based on thePentateuch.^** Containing the story of Joseph
and the wife of Potiphar, thissection is based on the weekly
reading [parashah]' Va-yeshev\ and can oftenbe found copied
separately in Judaeo-Persian manuscripts" bearing the titleYilsuf 0
Zulaykhd, the title of Muslim epics on this theme.^ ^
(CfRosenwasser, Or. 10773.) Colophon on f io8r: copied by Babaib.
ha-MuUaRahamim...LarI,^^ on 7 Tevet 5672 [1912].^ '* io8 f 21 x
17cm.
Or. 13191 (i) Shdhzddah 0 5/r[ 'The Prince and the Mystic'], by
Elisha b. Samuel(nom de plume 'Raghib'), written in the second half
of the seventeenthcentury. This work is based on Abraham b.
Hasdai's Ben ha-melekh ve-ha-nazir, a thirteenth-century Hebrew
version of the Barlaam and Josaphat
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(ff. ir-6iv). (Cf. Rosenwasser, Or. MSS. 4731, 4732, 4744,
10196,10711.) Imperfect. (2) An incomplete text of Hikdyat-i an seh
Yahudiydn-itdjir ['The story of Solomon and the Three Merchants']^^
(ff. 62r-62v).(Cf. Rosenwasser, Or. MSS. 4731, 4744, 10196, 10711).
Embossed leatherbinding with clasps. Probably late XVIIIth or early
XlXth century. 62 f.21 X 17.4 cm.
Or. 13704 Fath-ndmah ['The Book of Conquest'] by the
Judaeo-Persian poet 'ImranT(d. after 1536), a poetic rendering of
the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
. Samuel I and part of Samuel IL One of the most beautiful
illuminatedJudaeo-Persian manuscripts known, it contains seven
large illuminatedpages and numerous smaller page designs. Fine
calligraphy throughout; thehands of several copyists are
discernible. Ff. 145V, i46r, 159V list names ofvarious owners.
There is no colophon, but the owner on f. 159V notes thathe
received the manuscript on i Nisan 5499, corresponding to 9
March1739. (Cf. Rosenwasser, Or. MSS. 2453, 4731, 10774.) First two
leavesbadly damaged; restored and bound by the British Library.
[Isfahan],probably from the end of the XVIIth or beginning of the
XVIIIth century.334 f. 28.8 X 20 cm. (see plate II).
This manuscript was acquired by the British Library from the
Sassooncollection, at the Sotheby's sale in Zurich, November 1975.
See D. S.Sassoon, Ohel David (Ohel Dawid): Descriptive Catalogue of
the Hebrew andSamaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London
(Oxford, 1932), vol.i, pp. 473-6, no. 614 [Kitab Shahin]; the
catalogue of the Sotheby's saleprepared by Ch. Abramsky, Catalogue
of Thirty-eight Highly ImportantHebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts
from the collection formed by the lateDavid Solomon Sassoon
(Zurich, 1975), lot no. 34; [David Goldstein],Hebrew Manuscripts
from the Sassoon Collection [British Library exhibitionnotes]
(London, 1982), no. 8 (with reproduction off. 31V). The
manuscriptand its illuminations are discussed in V. B. Moreen,
Miniature Paintings inJudaeo-Persian Manuscripts (Cincinnati,
1985), pp. 49-50;-^' see also M. I.Waley, Supplementary Catalogue
of Persian Miniatures (in preparation).
Or. 13872 (i) Sefer ha-Agron by Moses b. Aaron b. She'erith of
Shirwan, a Hebrew-Persian dictionary covering the Hebrew and
Aramaic vocabulary of theBible, compiled in 1459^^ (ff. 1-269V).
(Cf. Rosenwasser, Or. 10482, whichmay be an autograph.) Colophon on
f. 269V: copied by Samuel b. Isaac b.Nisan b. Abraham b. Joseph at
Merv (Central Asia) in 1784 according to theSeleucid date [A. D.
1473]. (2) Miscellaneous fragments of Hebrew texts (ff.269V-272V).
272 f. (missing one leaf after f. 266). 17 x 13 cm.
This manuscript was acquired by the British Library from the
Sassooncollection, at the Sotheby's sale in Zurich, November 1978.
See D. S.Sassoon, Ohel David, vol. i, p. 500, no. 710; the
catalogue of the Sotheby's
73
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sale prepared by Ch. Abramsky, Catalogue of [A Further]
Thirty-threeHighly Important Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts from
the collectionformed by the late David Solomon Sassoon (Zurich,
1978), lot no. 30; and[David Goldstein], Hebrew Manuscripts from
the Sassoon Collection[exhibition notes], no. 16.
13913 (i) Alfa Beta de-Ben Sira ['The Alphabet of Ben Sira'] in
Judaeo-Persianprose (ff. ir-2ov). (Cf. Rosenwasser, Or. 4731.)
Imperfect at beginningbut complete at end. Colophon on f. 2ov:
copied by Jacob Kohen Sa*irJoseph...on Friday, 23 Tevet 5649
[1889]. (2) Parashat ' Va-yeshev' byShahin of Shiraz (ff. 2ir-94r).
(Cf Or. 13190, above.) In the same hand asthe previous text in this
manuscript. Colophon indicates 1889 as the year ofthe copy. (3)
Shdhzddah 0 Suflhy Elisha b. Samuel (ff. 96r~i68v). (Cf Or.13191,
above.) In excellent condition up to f 164V; ff. i65r-i68v
damagedbut still legible, restored. Colophon on f i68v: copied by
Jacob b. MullaBakhshi Sa'ir Joseph for Babai b. ha-MuUa Imam LarT,
on Tuesday, in themonth of Sivan 5648 [1888]. (3^) An owner's
statement {}), or a colophon(?), beginning 'Kitab Rahamim Hayim
Shim*on', and dated 1892;seemingly misbound (?), possibly prior to
acquisition of the manuscript bythe British Library.^ ** (4) Kitab
Haidar Beg (ff. I7ir-i9ov). Imperfect atend. Copied by Rahamim
Jacob Kohen, possibly in Allahabad, in 1888-9.168 f. (ff. 95r-95v
blank). 19 x 15 cm.
Or. 13914 (i) Mundjdt-ndmah Jumjumah ['Book of Devotions', on
Jumjumah], i.e. thestory of Jumjumah in Judaeo-Persian verse^^ (ff.
ir-9v). (2) Mundjdt-ndmahMusah ['Book of Devotions', on Moses], in
Judaeo-Persian verse by'Attar"^ (ff. 9v-i5r). (3) Tafstr in
Judaeo-Persian of verse beginning ''Dodiyarad [le-ganoY (ff.
I5v-24r). Colophon on f 24r: copied by RahamimJacob on 25 Adar 5661
[1901]. (4) Text in Malay {}) in Hebrew diaracters(f 24V). (5)
Continuation of tafstr that began on f 15V (ff. 25r-28r).
(6)Wedding poems in Judaeo-Persian (ff. 29v-32v).^^ Copyist:
RahamimJacob Kohen. (7) Persian-Malay vocabulary (list of numbers:
satu, du'ah,tigah, hampah, nimah, etc.) in Hebrew characters (ff,
33r-48r). This is theonly known text in Malay in Hebrew
characters.^^ On f 39V, in English:'Rahamim Yacoob Cohen Esqr.
Finish Dressing. Closed all Sterday [sic].Address Near Peer Mussa
Miyasaheb's House No. 3189, Ahmedabad'. Onf. 4or a shopkeeper's
advertisement for tailoring and women's hat-makingin Gujarati, and
at bottom of the leaf the two words Tstrt topt {y^ovatTih hat)in
Gujarati in Hebrew characters.^^ It must be said that this
manuscript isa remarkable linguistic melange, containing text in
five languages and inthree scripts, including Judaeo-Persian, Malay
in Hebrew characters,Hebrew, English, and Gujarati. ^ ^ 48 f. Very
small bloc-notes format,13.9 X 8.4 cm.
74
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h^'iTsjjirV
^
l^af fi-nm -Arahir Finlnlat nl-H/V
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PLATE II
Scene of Joshua, on a white horse, fighting before the walls of
Jericho, from the Judaeo-Persianepic by 'ImranT, Fath-ndmah, copied
circa 1700. Or. MS. 13704, f.
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Or. 14594 (i) Hebrew poem by Moses b. Isaac, beginning *'Masveh
natan ^al panav...^^ (ff. 4r-ior). (2) Bakashah (poem) with
alternating Hebrew and Judaeo-Persian strophes (ff. 11V-25V). (3) A
bakashah in Hebrew (ff. 26r-37v).(4) A piyyut in Aramaic (ff.
38r-39v). (5) Bakashot in Hebrew (ff. 4ov-5or).(6) Judaeo-Persian
poems by Joseph b. Siman Zarganl^^ (ff. 5iv-7or).(7) Kitab-i
Antiokhus ['The Book of Antiochus']. Apparently a copy of"
theJudaeo-Persian version of the Hasmonean story, better known as
Antiokhus-namah, by the eighteenth-century poet Joseph b. Isaac b.
Musa^^ (ff.77v-ii5r). (8) Piyyut in honour of Purim in alternating
Hebrew andJudaeo-Persian strophes (ff. i i6r-i32r). Colophon on f.
i32r pertains to thelast two items: copied by Raphael Melamed
ha-Kohen for Elijah b. ha-Mulla 'Usa [.>], on 22 Nisan 5663
[1903]. 132 f (ff. ir-3v, iov-iir, 4or,5ov-5ir, and -joy-j^v all
blanks). Very small bloc-notes format, 8.9 x 11 cm.
Or. 14595 (i) Zemirot (poems/songs) of Israel Najara(?)^^ in
Judaeo-Persian (ff.ir-2v). (2) Tafstr (translation/commentary) of
Solomon Ibn Gabirol'sazharah, 'Shemor libi...'^^ (ff. 2v-i iv) .
(3) Tafsir-i azharot by Benjamin b.Misha'el (nom de plume AmTna), a
Judaeo-Persian translation/commentarybased on Solomon Ibn Gabirol's
azharah, 'Shemor libi...' (ff. I2v-i5r).Calligraphy changes on f
13V. (4) ' Re shut azharot' of R. David b. EleazarBakudah, a poem
in Hebrew; Azharot of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Hebrewstrophes
alternating with Judaeo-Persian (ff. i5r-25v). 'Mitsvot 'aseh'
(f.26r), and 'Tafsir-i mitsvot lo ta'aseh'^'^ (ff. 26v-4rv). (Cf
Rosenwasser, Or.4729.) Imperfect, damaged at end, and lacking
colophon. Greenish paper.XVIIIth or XlXth century. 41 f 17.4 x 13
cm.
Or. 14596 (i) Tafsir, in Judaeo-Persian prose, of anonymous
authorship, of ''Dodiyarad le-gano\ a mystical messianic dialogue
between God and Israel basedon the Song of Songs (ff. ir-ior). (Cf
Or. 13914, above.) (2) Two Judaeo-Persian quatrains (unclear
whether original, or Judaeo-Persian copies ofPersian quatrains), of
unknown authorship (f ior). (3) Tafsir oVYigdaV (ff.iov-riv). (4)
Judaeo-Persian translation of a poem, from Zemirot Yisra'elby
Israel Najara (ff. iiv-i2r). (5) Mundjdt-ndmah ['Book of
Prayers'],containing a famous mukhammas by Amlna^^ (ff. I2r-i8r).
(6) AnotherMundjdt-ndmah in Judaeo-Persian (of unknown authorship?)
(ff. i8r-2ir).(7) More poems from Zemirot Yisra'*el by Israel
Najara, some in Judaeo-Persian and some in Hebrew (ff. 2iv-26v).
(8) Judaeo-Persian poems of'Tufayl' (?) with messianic themes. Very
damaged at the edges; incomplete(ff. 26V-29V). XVIIIth or early
XlXth century. 29 f Bloc-notes format,10 X 15 cm.
, Persische Studien, Abhand- isch-persisches Worterbuch aus dem
15. Jahr-lungen der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xxxi,
hundert', Zeitschrift fur die alt testament lie he(Gottingen,
1884); Wilhelm Bacher, 'Ein hebra- Wissenschaft, xvi (1896), pp.
201-47, xvii (1897),
75
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pp. 199-203, and his numerous subsequentpubhcations on the
subject; and the pioneeringbibliographic survey by the English
bibliophileE. N. Adler, Ginze Paras u-Madai: The PersianJews, Their
Liturgy and Ritual (London, 1899[offprinted from Jewish Quarterly
Review, \]),reflecting the contents of Adler's private col-lection,
which passed to the library of the JewishTheological Seminary, New
York.
The body of research on Judaeo-Persianlanguage and literature
has grown considerablyin this century. For general surveys and
biblio-graphies, see W. Bacher's entries on 'Judaeo-Persian' and
'Judaeo-Persian Literature' in TheJewish Encyclopedia, vol. vii
(New York andLondon, 1904), pp. 313-24 (based in large parton the
Adler collection), and more recentlyW. J. Fischel,' Israel in Iran
(A Survey of Judeo-Persian Literature)', in L. Finkelstein (ed.).
TheJews: Their History, Culture, and Religion (NewYork, 1949), pp.
1149-90; idem, 'Judeo-PersianLiterature', Encyclopaedia Judaica,
vol. x (Jeru-salem, 1972), cols. 432-9 (the bibliography
lists,inter alia, catalogues recording Judaeo-Persianmanuscripts);
and idem, 'Judaeo-Persian-Literature', in Encyclopaedia of Islam,
vol. iv(1974), pp. 308-13. A classified bibliography ofsecondary
literature on Judaeo-Persian remains adesideratum.
2 There is still no detailed union catalogue ofJudaeo-Persian
manuscripts. Manuscripts in thislanguage have usually been recorded
togetherwith Hebrew manuscripts in the catalogues ofHebrew
libraries or collections, and are oftenfound scattered, sometimes
virtually hidden,within these catalogues. There is, however,
aseparate section on 'Judaeo-Persian', bringingtogether brief
records for manuscripts in thislanguage held in libraries around
the world, inthe Collective Catalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts(Paris,
1989, on microfiche). The CollectiveCatalogue records the
extensive, if still incom-plete, holdings of the Institute of
MicrofilmedHebrew Manuscripts at the Jewish National andUniversity
Library (JNUL), Jerusalem.
The most important recent single-librarycatalogues of
Judaeo-Persian manuscripts per seare those by E. Spicehandler, 'A
DescriptiveList of Judeo-Persian Manuscripts at the KlauLibrary of
the Hebrew Union College', Studiesin Bibliography and Booklore,
viii (Cincinnati,1968), pp. 114-36; J. Rosenwasser, Judaeo-
Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, oif-printed (with
additional indexes of persons andtitles) from G. M. Meredith-Owens,
Handlist ofPersian Manuscripts, i8g5-ig66 (London, 1968),pp. 38-44;
and A. Netzer, Otsar kitve ha-yadshel yehude paras be-makhon Ben
Tsevi [Manu-scripts of the Jews of Persia in the Ben ZviInstitute]
Jerusalem, 1985). (In the presentsupplementary list that follows
here, thesethree standard catalogues are cited as Spice-handler,
Rosenwasser, and Netzer.) Dr E. Wustis currently preparing a
catalogue of theJudaeo-Persian manuscripts held in the JNULitself,
and the present writer has been engagedto catalogue those housed at
the library ofthe Jewish Theological Seminary, New York.The core of
this latter collection, to whichother manuscripts have been added
over theyears, consists of those purchased by E. N.Adler; see
Adler's Catalogue of Hebrew Manu-scripts in the Collection of Elk
an Nathan Adler(Cambridge, 1921), as well as his earlier
GinzeParas.
3 Eight manuscripts containing Judaeo-Persiantext, acquired from
the antiquarian Shapira,were first listed briefly by H. Derenbourg
in'Les Manuscrits judaiques entres au BritishMuseum de 1867 a 1890
[nos. Or. 11 to Or.4117]', Revue des e'tudes juives, xxiii (Paris,
1891),pp. 279-80 (Judaeo-Persian MSS. Or. 2451-2456, 24592460).
These manuscripts were alsoincluded in the catalogue by G.
Margoliouth,Descriptive List of the Hebrew and SamaritanManuscripts
in the British Museum "fLondon,1893), pp. II , 21, 42, 69, 72, and
85. A furthereight manuscripts acquired from S. A. J.Churchill, a
diplomat in Teheran, were de-scribed by the same Margoliouth in
'PersianHebrew Manuscripts in the British Museum',Jewish Quarterly
Review, vii (1894/5), pp.119-20 (Or. MSS. 4729-4732 and
4742-4745).Two of these. Or. 4743 and Or. 4745,
beingHebrew-character transcriptions of Muslimworks, were included
by C. Rieu in hisSupplement to the Catalogue of the
PersianManuscripts in the British Museum (London,1895; reprinted
1977), p. 156, no. 230, and pp.179-80, no. 272 (cf also the
preface, p. vi). Oneof the Churchill manuscripts. Or. 4742, and
alater acquisition. Or. 5446, were described insome detail by M.
Seligsohn in the firstinstalment of his 'The Hebrew Persian
Manu-
-
scripts of the British Museum', J^BJI^A QuarterlyReview, xv
(1903), pp. 278-301.
On the ancient fragment Or. 8212, see D. S.Margoliouth, 'An
Early Judaeo-Persian Docu-ment from Khotan, in the Stein
Collection, withother early Persian Documents', with an
in-troductory note by M. A. Stein, and communi-cations from W.
Bacher, A. E. Cowley, and J.Wiesner, iu Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society(1903), pp. 735~6o; K. Salemann, 'Po
povoduyevreisko-persidskago otrivka iz Khotana',Zapiski vostochnago
otdeleniia, xvi (St Petersburg,1904-5), pp. 046-057; M. A. Stein,
'A Judaeo-Persian Document', in his Ancient Khotan:Detailed Report
of Archaeological Explorations inGhinese Turkestan (Oxford, 1907),
vol. i, pp.306-9, and in the same volume a reprint ofMargoliouth's
article, here entitled ' The Judaeo-Persian Document from
Dandan-Uilik', pp.570-4, and a facsimile of the fragment in vol.
ii,plate cxix; B. Utas, 'The Jewish-Persian Frag-ment from
Dandan-Uilik \ Orientalia Suecana,xvii (1968), pp. 123-6 (with
reference also tofurther publications by W. B. Henning and
M.Kashgari); and most recently G. Lazard, 'Rem-arques sur le
fragment judeo-persan de Dandan-Uiliq', Acta Iranica, xxviii
(Leiden, 1988), pp.205-9. D- S. Margoliouth's dating of A.D. 7r8
isno longer accepted, but it is agreed that thefragment is
eighth-century. A reproduction ofthe fragment also appears in the
EncyclopaediaJudaica (Jerusalem, 1972), vol. xi, col. 905.
All of the Judaeo-Persian manuscriptsacquired by the British
Museum during the firstthird of the present century, with the
exceptionof those in the Gaster Collection, were describedin much
greater detail by G. Margoliouth in theGatalogue of the Hebrew and
Samaritan Manu-scripts in the British Museum (London, 1899-1935;
reprinted 1965-77), with indexes and'Supplementary List of
Manuscripts' by J.Leveen in vol. iv, esp. pp. 119-20 under'Liturgy:
Yemenite and Persian Rites', and p.133 under 'Poetry: Persian (in
the Hebrewcharacter)'; see Leveen's introduction in thesame volume,
p. ix, and supplementary nos. Or.8695 and Or. 9804. On the
palaeography of fourof the Judaeo-Persian manuscripts, with
fac-simile plates, see the two volumes ofS. Birnbaum, The Hebrew
Scripts (London andLeiden, 1954-71), nos. 208 (Add. 7701), 211(Or.
8212), 212 (Or. 5446), and 214 (Or. 4729).
The manuscript acquired from A. S. Yahuda,Or. 8659 (not recorded
in Margoliouth-Leveen)- it is one of the earliest Judaeo-Persian
manu-scripts, apparently older than Or. 5446, thePentateuch
translation dated A.D. 1319-hasbeen edited and studied by D. N.
MacKenzie,'An Early Jewish-Persian Argument', Bulletin of'the
School of Oriental and African Studies, xxxi(1968), pp. 249-69; see
also J. P. Asmussen,Jewish-Persian Texts: Introduction, Selection,
andGlossary (Wiesbaden, 1968), pp. 6-7 (alsoproviding specimens and
notes on two otherBritish Library manuscripts. Or. 4742 and
Or.8695)-
The Gaster manuscripts were described inGaster's own handlist
(nos. 69, 75, 77, 94,774-82, 936-7, 1081-2, 1084, and 1281), and
inthe typescript catalogue of the British Library'sGaster
Collection prepared by N. Allony andD. S. Loewinger for the
Institute of MicrofilmedHebrew Manuscripts, Reshimat tatslume
kitveha-yad ha-ivriyim be-makhon: K.h.y. be-sifriyatha-Muzey'um
ha-briti, osef Gaster Jerusalem,i960) (see under 'Judaeo-Persian'
in the 'Indexof Languages'). All of the Judaeo-Persianmanuscripts
in the British Library (formerlyBritish Museum) are recorded in the
Institute'sGollective Gatalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts(Paris, 1989),
in various sequences ('London,Gaster Collection', 'Judaeo-Persian',
etc).RosenwusseT's Judaeo-Persian Manuscripts in theBritish Museum
is the most concise guide to all ofthese manuscripts, including
those in the Gastercollection, up to Or. MS. 12191.
4 I am indebted to Brad Sabin Hill for bringingthese manuscripts
to my attention and for hisassistance in the redaction of this
article, and toMrs Devora Coutts for kindly providing dimen-sions
of these manuscripts for inclusion in thesupplementary list.
5 Cf. the colour reproductions of very similartinted papers of
Judaeo-Persian manuscriptsheld in the National Library of Canada,
in B. S.Hill, Incunabula, Hebraica & Judaica (Ottawa,1981), p.
135, nos. 130 and 150.
6 [EDITOR'S NOTE: One should also mention heretwo manuscripts
once thought to contain Judaeo-Persian, which have been excluded
from the listsof Judaeo-Persian manuscripts. Or. 10254(Codex Gaster
no. 1400), incorrectly identifiedby Allony and Loewinger (op. cit.,
no. 345, andin the 'Index of Languages') as Judaeo-Persian,
77
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is entirely in Hebrew. Or. 12352 (Codex Gasterno. 388),
comprised of pizmonim or piyutim by*Asahel bar Hanukah of
Daghestan, includes onff. 7r-7v a bilmgual hymn with strophes
alternat-ing between Hebrew and a vernacular in Hebrewcharacters.
Although Allony and Loewinger (op.cit., no. 1070, and in the 'Index
of Languages')describe the language as 'perhaps Persian(?)'
or'Dagestani' [sic], it has been correctly identifiedas a Turkic
dialect close to Azeri; the firstvernacular strophe reads: 'gelun
gidakh t daklarusde goz alakh i yollar usde belki gele David
bizebelki gele Farnas bize.' The manuscript (iof,22.6 X 18.6 cm.)
was probably copied in theeighteenth century somewhere in the
Caucasus.Cf. Meredith-Owens's typescript. TemporaryHandlist of
Turkish MSS. i888~igs8, p. 46 (asingle entry under
'Judaeo-Turkish', listing thismanuscript). There are a few other
instances ofJudaeo-Turkic texts, or Turkish in Hebrewcharacters,
among the Hebrew manuscripts inthe British Library; see for example
Margo-liouth, vol. iii, p. 367, no. 1037 (describing Add.i5455i
containing two short pieces on the plaguein Turkish, and a
Hebrew-Turkish vocabulary).
In this context, one may call attention to oneother British
Library manuscript in an Islamiclanguage, Urdu - a language very
influenced byPersian - likewise written in Hebrew characters.This
is Or. 13287, fully illustrated in Indianstyle, containing the text
of the popular nine-teenth-century drama by Agha Hasan Amanatknown
as Indra Sabha ( 'The Court of Indra').The entire manuscript is in
Urdu (written inHebrew characters), except for the
abbreviatedHebrew invocation, and the colophon in Judaeo-Arabic
indicating its completion in Calcutta in1887. (A Hebrew-character
lithograph of theUrdu drama, printed in Calcutta in 1880,
hassurvived in two incomplete copies, one held inthe Sassoon
collection, Jerusalem, and the otherin the Valmadonna Trust,
London.)
A unique instance of another Islamic langu-age, Malay, written
in Hebrew characters, isdescribed in the supplementary list of
Judaeo-Persian manuscripts, under Or. 13914.]
7 On this gloss, see now A. Dotan, 'Reflectionstowards a
critical edition of Pentateuch CodexOr. 4445', in E. Fernandez
Tejero and M. T.Ortega Monasterio (eds.), Estudios Masoreticos:X
Congreso de la lOMS [en Memoria de HarryM. Orlinsky] (Madrid, 1993)
[Textos y estudios
'Cardenal Cisneros' de la Biblia Poliglota Matri-tense, Iv], pp.
49-50. Margoliouth, vol. i, p. 39,had already remarked that the
owner's note inJudaeo-Persian on f. i86v is no longer legible.
8 On this fragment, see A. Cowley, *The Pahlavidocument from
k\xom^n\ Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society (1919), pp. 147-54,
^^^ also LeMonde oriental, xvii (1923), p. 182. The
papyruscollection of the British Museum also holds a fewPahlavi
fragments in Aramaic script. On thePahlavi script, deriving from
the official Aramaicof the Achaemenian empire, see D. N.
Mac-Kenzie, A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary (London,1971), pp.
x-xii.
9 Individual and collected tales are common inJudaeo-Persian
manuscript collections. See, forexample, Netzer, Otsar, index,
under sipurim u-ma'asiyot, and Spicehandler, 'A DescriptiveList',
index, under Sefer ma'asiyot.
10 This epic is frequently referred to as SeferSharh-i Shahtn
'at ha-Torah ['The Book ofShahin's commentaries on the Torah'], a
titlebestowed upon it by Simon Hakham, whoprepared an uncritical
edition of the workpublished in Jerusalem, 1902-5.
11 Cf. Netzer, Otsar, index, under Yusuf ve-Zulaykhd, and
Spicehandler, 'A DescriptiveList', index, under Shdhln.
12 The most famous Muslim treatment of thissubject is that of
the Persian poet 'Abd-ur-Rahman Jam! (d. 1492).
13 Intimating that either he or his family came fromthe city of
Lar, one of the major centres for thecopying and transmission of
JudaeO-Persianmanuscripts; see Fischel, 'Israel in Iran',
p.II59-
14 I am indebted to Gilad Gevaryahu's help for theaccurate
reading of the dates in this andsubsequent colophons.
15 Cf. the edition by A. M. Habermann, Ben ha-melekh ve-ha-nazir
(Tel Aviv, 1950). There arenumerous copies of this epic in all
Judaeo-Persian manuscript collections; see Netzer,Otsar, index,
under Shdhzddah 0 Sufi, andSpicehandler,' A Descriptive List',
index, underShd[h]zdda Sufi [sic].
16 Explicitly written in the metre of Firdausl's (d.c. 1020-5)
Shdh-ndmah, the national epic of Iran.This popular tale can be
found in numerousJudaeo-Persian manuscripts.
17 Since the publication of this book anotherilluminated
Fath-ndmah was found at the Ben
-
Zvi Institute, Jerusalem (see Netzer, Otsar,p. 175, MS. no.
4602, and plates 3-12),which seems to date from the
seventeenthcentury, and appears to be the iconographicprecursor of
Or. 13704. There exist quite a fewcopies of Fath-ndmah; see Netzer,
Otsar, andSpicehandler, 'A Descriptive List', index,
underFath-ndmah.
18 See Bacher's articles, cited in n. i. According toSassoon
(then followed by Goldstein) the lexicalwork contained in this
manuscript is to beascribed to Solomon b. Samuel of Urgenj(Central
Asia), manuscripts of whose fourteenth-century Sefer ha-melitsah
are also held in theFirkovich and Adler collections. On these
twolexicographical works, the Agron and the Seferha-melitsah, see
Bacher, 'Judaeo-Persian Litera-ture' in The Jewish Encyclopedia,
vol. vii (1904),p. 319; Fischel, 'Judisch-Persisch-Literatur',in
Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. ix (Berlin, 1932),cols. 562-3; and
idem, 'Israel in Iran', p. 1160.On Solomon b. Samuel, see Fischel's
entry inEncyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1972), vol. xv,col.
125.
19 See Netzer, Otsar, index, under Ben Sir a,and Spicehandler,
'A Descriptive List', index,under Alfa Beta de-Ben Sira. See also
Jes P.Asmussen, 'Eine judisch-persische Ubersetzungdes Ben
Sira-Alphabets', in J. Bergman et al.(eds.), Ex orbe religionum:
Studia Geo Widengren...oblata (Leiden, 1972), vol. i, pp. 144-55.
^^Or. 4731, see A. E. Cowley and A. Neubauer,The Original Hebrew of
a Portion of Ecclesiasticus{xxxix. 15-xUx. Il) (Oxford, 1897), pp.
xv andxxix.
20 Most curiously, it is followed on f. 170V by a'colour
transfer' of a North American Indianchief in full head-dress (!);
this leaf may, too,have come from the beginning or end of (part
of)the volume.
21 This is another tale frequently found in Judaeo-Persian
manuscripts and is to be attributed,according to Jes P. Asmussen,
to the greatPersian poet Farldudin *At:tar (d. 1220). SeeNetzer,
Otsar, p. 194, manuscript listed undernun 3, and Spicehandler, 'A
Descriptive List',index, under [Hikdyat-i] Sultdn Jumjume. Ashort
fragment of the tale is transliterated byAsmussen in his
Jewish-Persian Texts (Wies-baden, 1968), pp. 27-8. He translates
the entiretext, basing his translations on manuscriptsadditional to
those mentioned above, in his
Studies in Judeo-Persian Literature (Leiden,1973), PP-
76-87.
22 This munajdt genre, comparable to the Hebrewbakashah, is
frequently used by Persian andJudaeo-Persian authors. Cf. Netzer,
Otsar,p. 185, MSS. under bet 50, and Spicehandler,'A Descriptive
List', index, under Munajdt-ndmah.
23 Several such poems are in Spicehandler, 'ADescriptive List',
e.g. p. 127, MS. 2171.
24 This unique manuscript, described as 'Malayvocabulary in
Hebrew characters', has also beenfilmed in the series of Microfilms
of AlalayManuscripts from The British Library, Orientaland India
Office Collections, presented by theBritish Council, Brunei
Darussalam, 1992, filmno. 0 / C Pos. 310/A.
25 I am indebted to Mrs Dipali Ghosh for herassistance in
reading the text on this leaf.
26 As such it reflects the very cosmopolitanexperience of Jewish
merchants in South-EastAsia at the turn of this century. On Jews
inMalay-speaking territory, see E. Nathan, TheHistory of the Jews
in Singapore, i8jo-ig45(Singapore, 1986), and the review by D.
Lom-bard, with further references, in Archipel, xxxviii(Paris,
1989), pp. 143-4.
27 See other copies of the poem listed in Netzer,Otsar, MS.
1023, ff. 9r-iov; MS. 1049, ff.42v-45r; MS. 4550, ff. r2v-i4v; and
MS. 4592,ff. ir4r.
28 For more poems by this poet, see Netzer, Otsar,Index of
Poets, p. 214, and Spicehandler, 'ADescriptive List', p. 124, MS.
2153.
29 See Netzer, Otsar, MS. 967, ff. ir-i07v; MS.994, ff. 52v-95r;
MS. 1003, ff. 7ir-98v; andSpicehandler,' A Descriptive List',
index, under'Joseph b. Isaac b. Musa'.
30 Najara's poems were particularly loved byIranian Jewry. All
manuscript collectionsabound in Hebrew texts of the poems
andJudaeo-Persian translations/commentaries. Itmay well be that
these manuscripts containhitherto unknown poems by Najara. See
Netzer,Otsar, and Spicehandler, 'A Descriptive List',index, under '
Najara \
31 This is a much loved poem among Iranian Jews;cf. the numerous
manuscripts of it listed inNetzer, Otsar, p. 213, shin, 20.
32 Cf Netzer, Otsar, p. 201, alef 49.33 Cf. above, n. 22. Some
of the best Judaeo-
Persian poets, such as 'ImranT and Benjamin b.
79
-
Misha'el('Amm5')(d. mid-eighteenth century) yahudiydn-i Iran
['An Anthology of Persianhave written similar books of devotion.
See A. Poetry of the Jews of Iran'] (Tehran, 1973). PP-Netzer,
Montahhab-i ash'dr-i fdrisf az dsdr-i 44 and 50, and also his
Otsar, p. 32.
80