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Details
EXODUS 10:10 TO 16:15, INCLUDING THE SONG OF THE SEA, membrane from an Oriental Torah Scroll, in Hebrew, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Middle East, 10th or 11th century]
590 x 600mm. Five columns (the first four approximately 570 x 90mm, the fifth, with the Song of the Sea, approximately 135mm wide) of 71 lines (the fourth of 72 lines) written in Oriental (Middle Eastern) square script hanging below scored horizontal lines, single prickings visible in the left-hand column, sewing stations for adjacent sheets visible in outer margins (upper and lower margins cropped, no loss of text, a few holes affecting single letters, folds, scuffed, some staining)
MOSES LEADING HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE RED SEA AND THE SONG OF THE SEA: THE EARLIEST KNOWN COPY OF THIS SECTION OF EXODUS FROM A TORAH SCROLL
PROVENANCE:
1. The place of origin of the Torah scroll of which this membrane was part has been identified by comparison with other medieval Torah scrolls and massoretic codices containing the same section of Exodus. In every aspect -- text, section divisions, and layout of the Song of the Sea -- the present membrane fits precisely within the tradition of the Aleppo Codex and the closely related Tiberian codices, all of which were written in the Middle East during the 10th and 11th centuries. A thorough analysis of these issues, prepared by Dr Jordan S. Penkower of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, is available upon request.
Features of other early Oriental Torah scrolls, although none contain this section of Exodus, confirm the localization and date (see census, below). The most notable of the shared features are the extremely long text columns, ranging from 49 to about 100 lines (according to Colette Sirat's reconstructions). This use of extensive text columns is supported in the Babylonian Talmud's minor tractate Soferim (2:11), which notes that a Torah scroll should contain 42, 60, 72 or 98 lines per column. The present sheet, like several other extant fragments, approximates one of these options: all but one of its columns has 71 lines. Its fourth column was extended by one line (making 72) so that the Song of the Sea column could begin with the desired word, 'ha-ba'im'. Such elongated columns are highly uncharacteristic of later Torah scrolls, for Maimonides opined in the 12th century that 'the number of lines in every column should be no less than 48 and no more than 60' (Hilkhot Sefer Torah 7:10). The fact that Maimonides' influential ruling is not reflected in this Torah scroll further supports the sheet's early dating. The same is true of the script: the Oriental square script is without taggin or peculiar massoretic shapes of letters that are characteristic of later scrolls. No attempt was made to justify left-hand margins except for the fifth column with the Song portion; this was clearly copied from a prepared model; dilated letters were thus used only for corrections.
2. By the mid-19th century, the sheet was in the possession of Karaites in Chufut-Kale ('Rock of the Jews'), Crimea. It is quite possible that the manuscript was brought to the Crimea by the famous Karaite leader and bibliophile Abraham Firkovich (1786-1874), who collected scores of Oriental Hebrew manuscripts during his travels in the Middle East.
3. Two dedicatory inscriptions on the back of the membrane record its transfer in 1863 from the Karaite hazzan of Chufut-Kale, Solomon Beim (1817-1867), to the Grand Duke of Russia, Constantine Nikolayevitch (1827-1892; second son of the late Tsar Nicholas I and brother of the reigning Tsar Alexander II) and his daughter Alexandra Yosifovna.
The first inscription, in Russian, reads: 'A fragment from the Book of Exodus, written in Hebrew, in the most ancient style of script, presented with exalted feelings as a memento to their Imperial Highnesses Constantine Nikolayevitch and Alexandra Yosifovna. From their obedient servant, the Karaite Rabbi Solomon Beim, as a memento of their most noble visit to Chufut-Kale, September 1863.'
The second inscription, in Hebrew, reads: 'From their obedient servant Solomon Beim. To the Grand Duke Constantine Nikolayevitch and his noble daughter Alexandra Yosifovna, on the occasion of their visit to the ancient city of Kale, Tishre 5624.'
Despite its historical association with the community of Chufut-Kale, there is no reason to assume that this sheet represents a fragment of a Karaite Torah scroll. The Karaites of the East did not read from Torah scrolls, which lack pointing and cantillation marks, but, rather, from codices. Only in the 15th and 16th centuries, under Rabbinite influence, did they start to use Torah scrolls.
CONTENT:
This membrane carries a section of text from the Pentateuch: Exodus Chapter 10, from the end of verse 10 to Chapter 16, the beginning of verse 15. This is THE EARLIEST SURVIVING TORAH SCROLL FRAGMENT CONTAINING THIS SECTION OF EXODUS, WHICH INCLUDES THE SONG OF THE SEA, THE HYMN OF PRAISE SUNG BY MOSES AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE. It is also the earliest example of a Torah scroll whose Song of the Sea column is written according to the prescriptions later codified by Maimonides.
The manner in which the Song of the Sea should be written in a Torah scroll is circumscribed by numerous laws and traditions. The Song's basic format is already prescribed in the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 16b), which notes that this poetic passage must be written in a special layout known as 'ariah al gabei levenah' (space under script and script under space). Indeed, a Torah scroll that does not follow this fundamental stipulation is rendered unfit for ritual use. There was no stipulation, however, concerning the layout of the lines before and after the Song of the Sea until the end of the 12th century. It was then that Maimonides wrote the Mishneh Torah, in which he established (Hilkhot Sefer Torah, 7:10) that five lines of text should precede the Song of the Sea and five lines should follow it. The exact words with which these ten lines are to begin are specified by Maimonides: the first line, which is also to be the first line of the text column, should begin with 'ha-ba'im,' (Ex. 14:28) the second with 'ba-yabbashah' (Ex. 14:29), etc. While these regulations were not considered by Maimonides to be ritually binding, they nevertheless exerted tremendous influence on the way the Song of the Sea column was written by later scribes.
Maimonides' prescriptions concerning the Song of the Sea column, however, were in fact derived from a much earlier source, the 10th-century Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Tzova, c.925), which he personally examined (see Mishneh Torah, Chapter 8, in the authentic version, such as Oxford, Ms Hunt. 80, which was checked by Maimonides himself; see facsimile edition, ed. S.Z. Havlin, Jerusalem-Cleveland 1997). Although this famous codex now lacks the leaves that contained this passage, clearly the Song of the Sea was written in the manner Maimonides prescribed (on the basis of this very codex) in the Mishneh Torah. Significantly, this layout and disposition is also reflected in other 10th/11th-century Tiberian manuscripts closely related to the Aleppo Codex (see, for example, St Petersburg, Russian National Library, Ms B19A, dated 980 C.E., facsimile: ed. D.S. Levinger, Jerusalem 1971). The present membrane is exceptional among these early manuscripts, however, for being the only early Torah scroll to display the arrangement that was later given halakhic status by Maimonides.
CENSUS:
Oriental Torah scrolls from the medieval period are extremely rare. Apart from the membrane described here, only nine such fragments have been identified. These include two fragmentary scrolls from the Cambridge Genizah collection, which were identified by Colette Sirat (1994, pp.861-864). The first (T-S NS 4,3 and 3,21) is dated to the beginning of the 8th century, the second (T-S NS 4.8 + 18 fragments) to the 9th or 10th century. In addition, there are six fragmented scrolls which were cut and re-written in a Greek manuscript preserved in the Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana in Florence (Ms Pluto 74,17; see Sirat 1994). One fragmented scroll, originally ascribed by Solomon Birnbaum to the 8th century but re-attributed by Colette Sirat to the 10th or 11th century, was recently sold at Christie's New York (10 December 1999, lot 173). Interestingly, the present membrane is the only one of these medieval Torah fragments to be written on thin and bright parchment; all of the others are inscribed on gevil, a thicker and much darker leather, which was treated for writing on one side only.
Christie's are grateful to Professor Malachi Beit-Arié (Jerusalem), Dr Jordan S. Penkower (Ramat Gan), Dr Emile G.L. Schrijver (Amsterdam) and Dr Shlomo Zucker (Jerusalem), who studied the manuscript and shared their notes with us.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
N. Allony, 'The Torah Scroll and the Codex in Public Torah Reading among Rabbanites and Karaites,' (in Hebrew) in Allony's collected articles, Mehkerei Lashon ve-Sifrut, V: Bibliography and Codicology, Jerusalem 1992, pp.271-285
'Beim, Solomon ben Abraham,' Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem 1971, vol.4, col.401
S.A. Birnbaum, 'A Sheet of an Eighth Century Synagogue Scroll,' Vetus Testamentum, 9 (1959), pp.122-129
J.S. Penkower, 'Maimonides and the Aleppo Codex,' Textus 9 (1981), pp.39-128
J.S. Penkower, Jacob ben Hayyim and the Rise of the Rabbinic Bible, dissertation, 2 vols, Jerusalem 1982 (Heb.)
J.S. Penkower, 'A Tenth-Century Pentateuch Manuscript from Jerusalem Corrected by Mishael ben Uziel (Ms C3),' Tarbiz, 58 (1988), pp.49-74 (Heb.)
C. Sirat, M. Dukan, A. Yardeni, 'Rouleaux de la Tora anterieurs à l'an mille,' Comptes Rendues, Acadèmie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres (Paris) Novembre-Decembre 1994, pp.861-887
C. Sirat, A. Yardeni, 'A Notice concerning the Discovery of Six Torah Scrolls prior to 1000 C.E.,' Asufot Kiryat Sefer, supplement to Kiryat Sefer, vol.68 (1998), pp.105-110
Dr S. Zucker [descriptions of Torah Scrolls] in: Treasures Revealed, R. Weiser & R. Plesser eds, Jerusalem: The National and University Library, 2000
[Middle East, 10th or 11th century]
590 x 600mm. Five columns (the first four approximately 570 x 90mm, the fifth, with the Song of the Sea, approximately 135mm wide) of 71 lines (the fourth of 72 lines) written in Oriental (Middle Eastern) square script hanging below scored horizontal lines, single prickings visible in the left-hand column, sewing stations for adjacent sheets visible in outer margins (upper and lower margins cropped, no loss of text, a few holes affecting single letters, folds, scuffed, some staining)
MOSES LEADING HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE RED SEA AND THE SONG OF THE SEA: THE EARLIEST KNOWN COPY OF THIS SECTION OF EXODUS FROM A TORAH SCROLL
PROVENANCE:
1. The place of origin of the Torah scroll of which this membrane was part has been identified by comparison with other medieval Torah scrolls and massoretic codices containing the same section of Exodus. In every aspect -- text, section divisions, and layout of the Song of the Sea -- the present membrane fits precisely within the tradition of the Aleppo Codex and the closely related Tiberian codices, all of which were written in the Middle East during the 10th and 11th centuries. A thorough analysis of these issues, prepared by Dr Jordan S. Penkower of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, is available upon request.
Features of other early Oriental Torah scrolls, although none contain this section of Exodus, confirm the localization and date (see census, below). The most notable of the shared features are the extremely long text columns, ranging from 49 to about 100 lines (according to Colette Sirat's reconstructions). This use of extensive text columns is supported in the Babylonian Talmud's minor tractate Soferim (2:11), which notes that a Torah scroll should contain 42, 60, 72 or 98 lines per column. The present sheet, like several other extant fragments, approximates one of these options: all but one of its columns has 71 lines. Its fourth column was extended by one line (making 72) so that the Song of the Sea column could begin with the desired word, 'ha-ba'im'. Such elongated columns are highly uncharacteristic of later Torah scrolls, for Maimonides opined in the 12th century that 'the number of lines in every column should be no less than 48 and no more than 60' (Hilkhot Sefer Torah 7:10). The fact that Maimonides' influential ruling is not reflected in this Torah scroll further supports the sheet's early dating. The same is true of the script: the Oriental square script is without taggin or peculiar massoretic shapes of letters that are characteristic of later scrolls. No attempt was made to justify left-hand margins except for the fifth column with the Song portion; this was clearly copied from a prepared model; dilated letters were thus used only for corrections.
2. By the mid-19th century, the sheet was in the possession of Karaites in Chufut-Kale ('Rock of the Jews'), Crimea. It is quite possible that the manuscript was brought to the Crimea by the famous Karaite leader and bibliophile Abraham Firkovich (1786-1874), who collected scores of Oriental Hebrew manuscripts during his travels in the Middle East.
3. Two dedicatory inscriptions on the back of the membrane record its transfer in 1863 from the Karaite hazzan of Chufut-Kale, Solomon Beim (1817-1867), to the Grand Duke of Russia, Constantine Nikolayevitch (1827-1892; second son of the late Tsar Nicholas I and brother of the reigning Tsar Alexander II) and his daughter Alexandra Yosifovna.
The first inscription, in Russian, reads: 'A fragment from the Book of Exodus, written in Hebrew, in the most ancient style of script, presented with exalted feelings as a memento to their Imperial Highnesses Constantine Nikolayevitch and Alexandra Yosifovna. From their obedient servant, the Karaite Rabbi Solomon Beim, as a memento of their most noble visit to Chufut-Kale, September 1863.'
The second inscription, in Hebrew, reads: 'From their obedient servant Solomon Beim. To the Grand Duke Constantine Nikolayevitch and his noble daughter Alexandra Yosifovna, on the occasion of their visit to the ancient city of Kale, Tishre 5624.'
Despite its historical association with the community of Chufut-Kale, there is no reason to assume that this sheet represents a fragment of a Karaite Torah scroll. The Karaites of the East did not read from Torah scrolls, which lack pointing and cantillation marks, but, rather, from codices. Only in the 15th and 16th centuries, under Rabbinite influence, did they start to use Torah scrolls.
CONTENT:
This membrane carries a section of text from the Pentateuch: Exodus Chapter 10, from the end of verse 10 to Chapter 16, the beginning of verse 15. This is THE EARLIEST SURVIVING TORAH SCROLL FRAGMENT CONTAINING THIS SECTION OF EXODUS, WHICH INCLUDES THE SONG OF THE SEA, THE HYMN OF PRAISE SUNG BY MOSES AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE. It is also the earliest example of a Torah scroll whose Song of the Sea column is written according to the prescriptions later codified by Maimonides.
The manner in which the Song of the Sea should be written in a Torah scroll is circumscribed by numerous laws and traditions. The Song's basic format is already prescribed in the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 16b), which notes that this poetic passage must be written in a special layout known as 'ariah al gabei levenah' (space under script and script under space). Indeed, a Torah scroll that does not follow this fundamental stipulation is rendered unfit for ritual use. There was no stipulation, however, concerning the layout of the lines before and after the Song of the Sea until the end of the 12th century. It was then that Maimonides wrote the Mishneh Torah, in which he established (Hilkhot Sefer Torah, 7:10) that five lines of text should precede the Song of the Sea and five lines should follow it. The exact words with which these ten lines are to begin are specified by Maimonides: the first line, which is also to be the first line of the text column, should begin with 'ha-ba'im,' (Ex. 14:28) the second with 'ba-yabbashah' (Ex. 14:29), etc. While these regulations were not considered by Maimonides to be ritually binding, they nevertheless exerted tremendous influence on the way the Song of the Sea column was written by later scribes.
Maimonides' prescriptions concerning the Song of the Sea column, however, were in fact derived from a much earlier source, the 10th-century Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Tzova, c.925), which he personally examined (see Mishneh Torah, Chapter 8, in the authentic version, such as Oxford, Ms Hunt. 80, which was checked by Maimonides himself; see facsimile edition, ed. S.Z. Havlin, Jerusalem-Cleveland 1997). Although this famous codex now lacks the leaves that contained this passage, clearly the Song of the Sea was written in the manner Maimonides prescribed (on the basis of this very codex) in the Mishneh Torah. Significantly, this layout and disposition is also reflected in other 10th/11th-century Tiberian manuscripts closely related to the Aleppo Codex (see, for example, St Petersburg, Russian National Library, Ms B19A, dated 980 C.E., facsimile: ed. D.S. Levinger, Jerusalem 1971). The present membrane is exceptional among these early manuscripts, however, for being the only early Torah scroll to display the arrangement that was later given halakhic status by Maimonides.
CENSUS:
Oriental Torah scrolls from the medieval period are extremely rare. Apart from the membrane described here, only nine such fragments have been identified. These include two fragmentary scrolls from the Cambridge Genizah collection, which were identified by Colette Sirat (1994, pp.861-864). The first (T-S NS 4,3 and 3,21) is dated to the beginning of the 8th century, the second (T-S NS 4.8 + 18 fragments) to the 9th or 10th century. In addition, there are six fragmented scrolls which were cut and re-written in a Greek manuscript preserved in the Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana in Florence (Ms Pluto 74,17; see Sirat 1994). One fragmented scroll, originally ascribed by Solomon Birnbaum to the 8th century but re-attributed by Colette Sirat to the 10th or 11th century, was recently sold at Christie's New York (10 December 1999, lot 173). Interestingly, the present membrane is the only one of these medieval Torah fragments to be written on thin and bright parchment; all of the others are inscribed on gevil, a thicker and much darker leather, which was treated for writing on one side only.
Christie's are grateful to Professor Malachi Beit-Arié (Jerusalem), Dr Jordan S. Penkower (Ramat Gan), Dr Emile G.L. Schrijver (Amsterdam) and Dr Shlomo Zucker (Jerusalem), who studied the manuscript and shared their notes with us.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
N. Allony, 'The Torah Scroll and the Codex in Public Torah Reading among Rabbanites and Karaites,' (in Hebrew) in Allony's collected articles, Mehkerei Lashon ve-Sifrut, V: Bibliography and Codicology, Jerusalem 1992, pp.271-285
'Beim, Solomon ben Abraham,' Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem 1971, vol.4, col.401
S.A. Birnbaum, 'A Sheet of an Eighth Century Synagogue Scroll,' Vetus Testamentum, 9 (1959), pp.122-129
J.S. Penkower, 'Maimonides and the Aleppo Codex,' Textus 9 (1981), pp.39-128
J.S. Penkower, Jacob ben Hayyim and the Rise of the Rabbinic Bible, dissertation, 2 vols, Jerusalem 1982 (Heb.)
J.S. Penkower, 'A Tenth-Century Pentateuch Manuscript from Jerusalem Corrected by Mishael ben Uziel (Ms C3),' Tarbiz, 58 (1988), pp.49-74 (Heb.)
C. Sirat, M. Dukan, A. Yardeni, 'Rouleaux de la Tora anterieurs à l'an mille,' Comptes Rendues, Acadèmie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres (Paris) Novembre-Decembre 1994, pp.861-887
C. Sirat, A. Yardeni, 'A Notice concerning the Discovery of Six Torah Scrolls prior to 1000 C.E.,' Asufot Kiryat Sefer, supplement to Kiryat Sefer, vol.68 (1998), pp.105-110
Dr S. Zucker [descriptions of Torah Scrolls] in: Treasures Revealed, R. Weiser & R. Plesser eds, Jerusalem: The National and University Library, 2000
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