Selomoh Levy Maduro (Ed.) Sepher Berith Yitzchak [prayers pertaining to Brith Milah in accordance with the Sephardic rite].

(SEPHARDICA).

I. Mondovi for G.J. Jansson

Amsterdam

1768

Title within typographic border, with woodcut illustration of the circumcision ceremony by A. Santcroos. Tailpiece consisting of ritual laver, an allusion to the Levitic descent of the editor. Two-page Portuguese dedication to the Sephardic Mohelim. With Haskamah of R. Selomoh Salem, Rabbi of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam, previously Rabbi of Belgrade (Serbia).MANUSCRIPT APPENDED: pp. 16. Written in Hebrew in a Sephardic square and cursive hand by Salomon Seruya of Lisbon, 1839 (see below).

Vinograd, Amsterdam 1946.

Contains an extraordinary ceremony for the circumcision of slaves. Also for the circumcision of mamzerim (bastards), Marranos and converts. Includes procedures for bringing a “Chut shel Chesed” upon a newborn baby, as in accordance with the Sephardic rite. Final three pages list the qualified Mohelim located throughout the Spanish & Portuguese Old and New Worlds, including: Amsterdam, The Hague, London, Bayonne, Curaçao, Surinam, etc. Appended is a handwritten Brith Milah manual. The first part is entitled Hanhagot HaMohel, the second part, “Ezrahi Haya Yahid Ben Le-umim,” is a piyut for circumcision (see Davidson 2373). The Serruya family were centuries-long resident on the Rock of Gibraltar at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.