Personal Hebrew - Judeo-Persian Dictionary, Ordered According to the Mishnaic Orders of Zeraim and Moed.

Auction 98 | Thursday, June 16th, 2022 at 1:00pm
Fine Judaica: Rare Printed Books, Manuscripts, & Autograph Letters

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Lot 46
(AFGHANISTAN).

Personal Hebrew - Judeo-Persian Dictionary, Ordered According to the Mishnaic Orders of Zeraim and Moed.

Manuscript in Hebrew and Judeo-Persian. Many pages with ornate Persian-styled decorations. ff. 28. Light wear. Original boards, loose. 8vo.

Herat: 27th Av - 22nd Cheshvan 1941

Est: $600 - $900
PRICE REALIZED $550
This manuscript was prepared by Reuven ben Mullah Shmuel Aharon over the course of his studies at the feet of Mullah (Rabbi) Asher Gargi of Herat, Afghanistan. From Mishnah Tractate Ma’aser Sheini until Tractate Chagigah, Reuven copiously recorded every Mishnaic word he did not recognize, along with its Judeo-Persian definition. Rabbi Mullah Asher Gargi (1882-1962) was the Chief Rabbi of Herat for over 40 years, succeeding his father Mullah Matithyahu Garji following the later’s departure for Jerusalem in 1906. Eventually joining his father, Gargi emigrated to Israel in 1950, settling in Jerusalem in the Bet Yisrael neighborhood. The Afghan community that coalesced around him formed the Yeshua VeRachamim synagogue. The honorific ‘Mullah,’ adopted from Islam, was commonly used amidst the Jewish communities of Persia, Buchara and elsewhere in Central Asia.