(Scroll of Esther)

AUCTION 33 | Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Including Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, & Autograph Letters

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Lot 213

MEGILATH ESTHER

(Scroll of Esther)

Black ink on vellum. Aschkenazic scribal letters. In conformity to the custom of Chabad Chassidism, with the enumeration of the ten sons of Haman, specifically not occupying a separate column (see Sepher ha-Minhagim (1966), p. 73) 9 inches high. 11 columns. 41 lines per column. Light stains. Marginal hole bottom 6th column. With fitted, plain tube

Russia: 19th-century

Est: $400 - $600

PRICE REALIZED $500

Whether a Megillah written in the Chabad style is valid is a matter of debate among eighteenth and nineteenth century authorities. The Gaon of Vilna considered such a megillah optimally kosher (“kosher le-chatchilah”). R. Jacob Ettlinger of Altona, Germany, testified that he himself wrote exactly such a megillah in conformity with the Gaon's opinion. However, R. Ephraim Zalman Margolioth, author of “Beith Ephraim,” deemed a megillah written in this fashion “pasul,” even “bi-di'avad” (ex post facto). See the discussion in R. Jacob Ettlinger, She'eloth u-Teshuvoth Binyan Tziyon ha-Chadashoth, chap. 9