(Tephiloth...) [prayers for the Days of Awe]. According to the rite of Constantine. Prayers and rubrics in Hebrew

(LITURGY)

Constantine

17th century

Bound in two parts. Uncommon, Spanish influenced, Algerian cursive and square Hebrew scripts. Black ink on paper. ff.23, 86

The Algerian town of Constantine has had a Jewish presence since the earliest history of the region. By the 15th century it was regarded as one of the most important Jewish communities in the Muslim world. See A. Chouraqui, Between East and West (1968)pp.12-3,39 The particular liturgical rite of Constantine is extant in only one other manuscript (ff.104), located in New York (JTSL). The sole printed version was of a highly condensed format that appeared in Livorno in 1872. The present manuscript includes numerous piyutim, many by poets not found in the JTSL manuscript: Yossi Hakohen, David b. Joshua, Solomon b. Gabirol, etc. Of note is a Memorial Prayer (f.63r) for members of the Bushusha Family - one Joseph Beshusha identified as the leader of the Community. Interestingly, the unnamed scribe includes a meditation selected from another manuscript in his posession that is suggested as being particularly effective when intoned prior to the Neilah prayer This significant manuscript, recently unearthed, is a substantial enlargement to the existing knowledge of this most esoteric liturgical rite, as well as to the history of Algerian Jewry as a whole. For a detailed study of the JTSL manuscript, see S. Bernstein, The Constantine Mahzor: A Bibliography of Its Poetry in: Areshet Vol. I (1958) pp.9-43