‘Evronot Manuscript (Rules for Calculation of the Calendar)

Asher bar Samuel ha-Kohen

Leyb ben Samuel Oppenheim

1624

Manuscript page with a grid of Hebrew letters and words set within two domed columns with flags, with image of naked man and woman next to tree between the columns at the top of the page, and man holding scales in middle of page.
Sifre ‘evronot—manuals for calculating the Jewish calendar, including leap years and holidays—were a popular genre of Ashkenazic illustrated manuscripts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although we also have evidence for them in the sixteenth century. This page with illustrations of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and a man holding scales is from a Hebrew manuscript that was written in Frankfurt am Main.

Credits

The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Ms. Heb. 8°3247.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Asher bar Samuel ha-Kohen

17th Century

Asher bar Shmuel Ha-Cohen was a scribe active in Germany in the early seventeenth century.

Creator Bio

Leyb ben Samuel Oppenheim

16th Century

Leyb ben Samuel Oppenheim (also known as Loewe Oppenheim) was a scholar who lived in Worms, Germany, and was the author of several Sifre ‘evronot (Books of Intercalation) in the sixteenth century. He is known particularly for his guidance on how to reconcile the Christian calendar with the Jewish calendar.

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