Seder Birkath ha-Mazon im Tikun Keri’ath Shema im Birchoth ha-Nehenin [“[Grace After Meals, with Prayers Before Retiring at Night, with Blessings Before Deriving Pleasure.”]

A Miniature Manuscript on Vellum. Written, illustrated and illuminated by an unknown Artist.

Nikolsburg (Moravia)

1725

21 Leaves measuring approx. 2 1/2 x 4 inches. All told, 26 hand-painted multicolor illustrations in tempera. Hebrew text in square characters alternating with wayber-taytsch letters and rabbinic script. With Judeo-German instructions

Provenance: 1. Leon J. Obermeyer, Esq. Civic Leader of Philadelphia; gifted to: 2. Dr. Herman S. Gundersheimer; by descent to: 3. Prof. Werner L. Gundersheimer, Director Emeritus, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC. The subject of the illustrations within the manuscript are as follows: Engraved title flanked by Moses on right and Aaron on left - a tradition in Hebrew printing. At bottom, the Binding of Isaac; at top, King David and two crouching lions. Central panel in manuscript: “Written here, the Holy Congregation of Nikolsburg, under the reign of His Highness Emperor Charles. (The Austrian Emperor Carolus alluded to is Charles VI (1685-1740), who ruled from 1711 to 1740).” f.2r. - The gilt letters “ayin” and “lamed” forming the word “Al” ("By the Waters of Babylon") in foliated vignettes. f.2v. - The word “Baruch” (Blessed) rests on what appears to be a pomegranate; on top, a cherubic figure in peruque; on sides, daffodils. f.3v. - In right column for Chanukah, an eight-branched candelabrum; in left column for Purim, Haman and his ten sons hanging from gallows. f.4v. - The three letters “reish,” “tzadei” and “hei” of the word “Retzeh” (Accept) in vignettes of medieval tower or onion dome and/or tree. f.5r. -Word “Elo-heinu” (Our God) floriated. f.5v. - An ingenious menu providing alternatives of Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) or the various festivals of Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Booths. The graphic effect is that of a spin wheel or carrefour. At top, a pair of doves with twigs in their mouths. f.6r. - As accompaniment to the blessing, “U-Veneh Yerushalayim,” a mythologized City of Jerusalem with towers and the two domes of the Mosque of Omar and Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount, all within a wall, the portal of whose gate is remarkably realistic. f.8r. - For the blessing upon wine, “Borei peri ha-gefen,” a vintner harvesting grape clusters. f.9r. - Depictions of thunder and lightning (above), and rainbow (below) for the appropriate blessings. f.9v. - Above: citrons and mixed fruits for blessing upon fragrance of fruits. Below: To illustrate the blessing upon beholding a king, an effeminate-looking ruler, flanked by halberdiers. Note period costumes. f.10r. - Above: beverages for blessing “She-ha-kol”. Below: date palms and other fruit trees for blessing “Borei peri ha-etz.” f.10v. - Above: Women in open-air market vending their wares of vegetbles for blessing “Borei peri ha-adamah.” Below: Spice-merchant offering his wares for blessing “Borei minei besamim.” f.11r. - Above: Agriculturalists display blessing “Borei isbei besamim” for fragrant herbs. Below: At perimeter of city, various trees, to illustrate blessing “Borei atzei besamim” upon fragrant woods. f.11v. - Above: A fountain for blessing “Borei shemen arev,” for fragrant oils. Below: A rain storm for “Ha-tov ve-ha-metiv.” f.12r. - Above: Members of exotic races and uncommon physical appearances illustrate the blessing “Meshaneh ha-beriyoth” upon viewing "exotic ethnicities and others. Below: Two individuals, the one perhaps a winner at the horse races, the other a winner at a card game, illustrate the blessing “Ha-tov ve-ha-metiv” to be recited upon hearing glad tidings. f.13r. - Word “Baruch” (of blessing “Ha-Mapil”) surrounded by flowers and tendrils. f.16v. - An angel pointing heavenward fits the bill of “Ha-Mal’ach ha-go’eil othi” [The angel who delivers me]. There was a proliferation of this genre of miniature illuminated books in the Germanic countries in the first half of the eighteenth century. (Nemenyi attributes this renewal of illuminated liturgical books to “the emergence of the new circles of wealthy Court Jews, who endeavored to imbue every circumstance of Jewish religious life with an atmosphere of luxury and beauty.”) Some of the illustrations in our “Bentcher” [Grace After Meals] fall into an established pattern. Thus, we find in a detailed description of a Grace After Meals executed by Simcha of Bohemia in Mannheim in 1745, that the title page is flanked by Moses and Aaron; in Al ha-Nisim, Chanukah is depicted by a Menorah and Purim by Haman’s ten sons dangling; “U-Veneh Yerushalayim” is shown by a castle of many towers and steeples with a large open gate; and “Ha-Mal’ach” by an angel. See R.D. Barnett, Catalogue of the Jewish Museum, London (1974), p. 119, no. 630. All of our subjects reflect the attire of the time. (Even the angels on ff. 2 and 16 have the peremptory ruffs around their necks). The men on ff. 8-9 wear three-cornered hats, waistcoats and knee breeches. The Jewish women vending their wares in an open-air market are dressed modestly with the tall, pointed head-dress characteristic of the pious German Jewess (f.10v.). A few of our motifs are so remarkably similar to those by Aaron Wolf Herlingen (c.1700-c.1760), the most prolific artist-scribe of the eighteenth-century Moravian school, that one is forced to conclude that our own unknown artist followed the master’s lead. The exotic races of “Meshaneh ha-beriyoth” and the spice shop of “Borei minei besamim” were clearly in emulation of Herlingen. See further Ernest M. Namenyi, “The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts After the Invention of Printing” in: Cecil Roth ed., Jewish Art (1961), pp. 425-54