(Liturgy). Ritual des Prieres en Hebreu a l’Usage des Israelites de l’Ancien Comtat

(FRENCH JUDAICA).

by the Author

Aix

1855

Two volumes in one. Text in Hebrew, French and Judeo-Provencal. Edited by Michael Milhaud. Includes prayers for the special Purim - Communal holidays, commemorating delivery from threat in 1691 and 1512

With a Jewish population of barely 250 when this volume was issued, Aix was the most faithful in preserving the traditions of the communities of the Comtat Venaissin. The peculiar Hebrew pronunciation, Judeo-Provencal dialect and unique folklore and liturgy were continued into the 19th-century through the efforts of committed families such as Cremieux and Milhaud. This prayer-book was based on Elijah Cremieux’s Seder Hatamid of a century earlier, with a wide selection of Piyutim for all the communities of the Comtat Venaissin (i.e. Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue). “...It was more a labor of patriotism than piety, for within a generation it is doubtful whether there was any synagogue at which services according to that time honored tradition were still regularly held.” (C.Roth, The Liturgy of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin in: Journal of Jewish Bibliography (vii, 1939) p.104