Machzor [for New Year and Day of Atonement]. According to the rite of Constantine, Algeria

(LITURGY)

Constantine, Algeria

1816

Key words in Hebrew block letters; text in Rashi script. Black ink on coarse paper. Scribe “Zevulun Halimi” has signed and dated twice in Vol. II, on f. 44r. and in the colophon on f. 53r. On the final page of the first volume there appears an owner’s signature in Hebrew, Arabic and French: “Yeuda Ataly.”

Simon Bernstein records just one other manuscript of this rite, located in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. “The Machzor Constantine, is a fascinating manuscript that surprisingly contains a great deal of novel content…It has poems and piyutim from the Middle Ages and much earlier that do not appear in any other Sephardic Machzor from the lands where the Sephardic rite predominated.” See Areshet Vol. I (1959) p.10. The Halimi family were a prestigious family resident in Constantine for many generations. In the twentieth century, the last chief rabbi of Constantine was Fredj Halimi, referred to as “Sidi,” out of respect for his enormous piety and Talmudic erudition. He succeeded his father Abraham Halimi as rabbi. The latter authored a commentary on Psalms