Shtei Yadoth [“Two Hands”: essays on Bible, liturgy, etc.]

Shtei Yadoth appropriately enough is divided into two “hands.” The first “hand,” Yad Ani (The Hand of the Poor) is a collection of de Lonzano’s own novellae. It is subdivided into five “fingers”: 1) Or Torah (masoretic studies on the Torah); 2) Ma’arich (additions to Nathan of Rome’s lexicon Aruch); 3) Avodath Mikdash (the Temple service for Sabbath and festivals, as opposed to the ancient Seder Avodah recited strictly on the Day of Atonement); 4) Derech Chayim (by today’s standards, a curious mix of poetry and halacha); 5) Tovah Tochachath (a sprawling poem of moral exhortation). The second “hand,” Yad ha-Melech (The Hand of the King), was also slated to include five “fingers,” these of rare, ancient midrashim: 1) Agadeta di-Bereshith; 2) Midrash Agur; 3) Tana Devei Eliyahu; 4) Avoth de-Rabbi Nathan, Tractate Derech Eretz, and Othiyoth de-Rabbi Akiva; and 5) Tashlumin (the missing portions of Midrash Rabbah, Midrash Yelamdenu, Sifra, Tanchuma, etc.). Unfortunately, as the colophon on f.176v. informs us, due to lack of funds, only the first of these five fingers, that of Agadeta di-Bereshith was ever published. (Though as S.H. Kook demonstrated, de Lonzano earlier printed Midrash Agur in Safed in 1587, the edition was all but lost). See A.M. Haberman, Giovanni di Gara (1982), no. 62 (pp. 26-7); S.H. Kook, Kiryat Sepher 28(1952/3):206-209; EJ, Vol. XI, cols. 486-7