Showing Results 1 - 10 of 11
This rabbinic ordination certificate granted to Judah ben Eliezer Briel was printed as a broadside in Venice and signed by prominent Venetian rabbis. It certifies his learning and his fitness to…
Moses ben Abraham Pescarol’s illuminated scroll of Esther, completed in Ferrara, constitutes one of the oldest examples of an illustrated manuscript of this biblical book, which is chanted on the…
This rare example of a Roman ketubah (marriage contract) from the seventeenth century was written on the occasion of the marriage of Menahem ben Samuel Zadik to Zevia, daughter of the prominent banker…
This intricately decorated ketubah (marriage contract) marks the marriage of Gabriel ben Hezekiah Amron to Simḥa bat Shabbetai mi-Segni. It is richly decorated with biblical miniatures, including one…
This manuscript page of Deuteronomy 1:1–7 is from a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Yiddish, from Italy. It is decorated with two storks and an ornate chapter heading with the opening word of the…
Kabbalist Elijah Menaḥem ben Abba Mari Ḥalfan constructed this diagram, now stained and torn, with the assistance of his tutor Abraham Sarfati. It depicts the sefirotic system and includes Ḥalfan’s…
This Haggadah was created by Abraham Farissol in Ferrara, Italy, for his friend Joseph ben Mordecai Judah Norsa. It has twelve illustrations in ink, accented with watercolor. Pictured here (bottom) is…
These are marginal illustrations found in a manuscript siddur from Italy according to the Romaniote rite, with prayers focused on marriage and birth rituals and customs, as well as the pidyon ha-ben…
This Venetian ketubah (marriage contract) from 1707 marks the wedding of Solomon, son of Isaac Franco de Almeida, to Brancha, daughter of David Fernandes Dias. Near the top, the ancient city of…
This page illustrating the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is from a Yiddish book of customs from Italy. By the sixteenth century, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews were the largest groups of…
