Beschreibung:

Probably the most important original contribution to Jewish literature of medieval Yemenite Jewry is its midrashim, collections (generally written in a mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic) of halakhic, aggadic, and folkloristic material organized according to the weekly liturgical readings in the synagogue. One of the best-known representatives of this genre is Midrash ha-hefets, by Rabbi Zechariah ben Solomon ha-Rofe (Razah; Arabic name: Yahya ibn Sliman al-Tabib). The author, about whose personal life little is known, was a great Yemenite luminary and prolific commentator on the Bible, the Mishnah, and all of Maimonides’ major works. His rationalistic worldview was deeply informed by the latter sage, although he also appreciated and dabbled in Jewish mysticism. As implied by his moniker, ha-Rofe/al-Tabib, he practiced medicine, and he left us a wide-ranging tract on the subject.
Midrash ha-hefets combines peshat (plain-sense) commentary with allegorical, ethical, homiletical, philosophical (often neoplatonic), and scientific discussions. In addition to its intrinsic exegetical value, the book is an important source for establishing the (correct) text of early and/or otherwise-unattested rabbinic works, including lost midrashim and the writings of the ge’onim and rishonim. According to its colophon (p. 720), Midrash ha-hefets was completed in 1430 in a small town located to the west of San’a. (An updated edition was finished about six-seven years later.) It subsequently achieved great popularity and wide circulation, to the extent that it was eventually epitomized and commented upon.
The present lot is a nearly-complete copy of Midrash ha-hefets that also includes R. Zechariah’s commentaries on the haftarot (lections from the Prophets) and on the book of Esther. Apparently originally produced in two separate volumes, the manuscript is now bound as one (and probably has been for some time). It features diagrams of Noah’s Ark (p. 56), the Cave of Machpelah (p. 105), the Splitting of the Sea (p. 249), and the Ephod and shoham stones (p. 326), among others. The version of the text found here is slightly different from that of most other recensions of Midrash ha-hefets but similar to that of MSS Sassoon 1177 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Opp. Add. Qu. 155. It was used by Meir Havazelet for his editions of Midrash ha-hefets on the Pentateuch. Like many other of his Yemenite manuscripts, David Solomon Sassoon purchased this volume from Elias Abraham Saadia Solomon Halfon of Aden (payments made on September 12, 1927 and January 12, 1928), who went by the name Elias Abraham Morris when he later immigrated to New York City.
Contentspp. 1-5: discussions of the thirteen and thirty-three(!) methods used by the rabbis to expound the Torah;pp. 5-195: Genesis;pp. 195-360: Exodus (pp. 256-265: Esther);p. 361: midrashic jottings in various hands;pp. 362-503: Leviticus;pp. 504-607: Numbers;pp. 607-720: Deuteronomy;pp. 721-726: haftarot for Shabbat parah, Shabbat ha-hodesh, Shabbat rosh hodesh, Mahar hodesh, and Passover.
Physical Description726 pages (10 x 7 5/8 in.; 253 x 193 mm) (likely original collation: [Vol. 1:] i4 [i1-4 lacking], ii8 [ii1-2 lacking], iii10, iv9 [iv10 lacking], v9 [v3 lacking], vi9 [vi1 lacking], vii-xvi10, xvii-xix8, xx7 [xx8 canceled]; [Vol. 2:] i9 [i1 canceled], ii-iii10, iv10 +1, v-x10, xi-xiii8, xiv-xvi10, xvii8 [xvii9-10 lacking], xviii9 [xviii1 lacking], xix9 [xix10 lacking] +3) on Yemenite (unmarked) paper; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in lower margins at center (pp. 1-2) and in or near upper-outer corners (pp. 3-726); first and final pages of each quire signed in pen at head and foot, respectively, in Hebrew characters (sometimes damaged or obscured); midpoints of quires generally marked in the upper-right corner (and sometimes other corners) of the middle opening with a hook-shaped symbol; written in Yemenite square (headings and incipits) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in black ink; single-column text of twenty-four lines per page; ruled with a mastara (ruling board); justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters, use of anticipatory letters, abbreviation, and slanted inscription of final words; later headers on rectos; horizontal catchwords in lower margins of versos; periodic Tiberian vocalization of text; Tetragrammaton abbreviated to two yodin flanking a vav with a dot above; diagrams on pp. 56 (Noah’s Ark), 105 (Cave of Machpelah), 249 (Splitting of the Sea), 326 (Ephod and shoham stones), 403 (laws of ritual purity), 568 (ditto); corrections, strikethroughs, and/or marginalia (sometimes cropped), including in a zigzag design on pp. 337, 479, 611-612, in primary and secondary hands. Probably lacking 13 folios (see collation), plus an unknown number at the end of the volume; a portion of the center of pp. 77-78 lacking; the vast majority of pp. 79-80 lacking (with two loose fragments remaining); lower-outer corner of pp. 577-578 lacking; inner and lower portions of pp. 683-684, 725-726 lacking; staining and dampstaining throughout, particularly in upper portions of pp. 1-330, with some text washed out; corners rounded; occasional short tears in edges; episodic ink transfer; periodic worming, sometimes affecting text; paper often damaged by ink, resulting in small cracks, tears, or holes; leaves sometimes tightly bound, obscuring text in gutter; pp. 1-2, 725-726 loose and frayed around edges; tape repairs of damage on pp. 3-12, 61, 63, 66-76, 81-84, 103-106, 137-138, 155-164, 177-182, 191-192, 195-202, 217-226, 259-260, 277-278, 313-316, 417-422, 499, 527-534, 577-578, 724, often obscuring text; some text on pp. 279-280 filled in over tape repairs; pp. 419-420 are misbound and should be between pp. 362-363; tear extending upward from lower edge of pp. 515-516; line of text obscured on p. 625; p. 726 washed out. Modern green buckram, slightly worn; paper ticket with title (damaged) affixed to top of spine; shelf mark lettered in gilt at base of spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
LiteratureMoshe Gavra, Entsiklopedyah la-kehillot ha-yehudiyyot be-teiman, vol. 2 (Bnei Brak: Ha-Makhon le-Heker Hakhmei Teiman, 2005), 353.
Meir Havazelet, “Or al mekorot midrash ha-hefets le-rabbi zekharyah ben shelomoh ha-rofe,” Teima 4 (1994): 35-41.
Saul Lieberman, Midreshei teiman, 2nd ed. (Jerusalem: Wahrmann Books, 1970), 22-32.
David Solomon Sassoon, “Aggadot attikot mi-teiman,” Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft 16 (1924): 1-30.
David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid: Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, vol. 2 ([Oxford]: Oxford University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 1932), 649 (no. 900).
Eliezer Schlossberg, “Midreshei teiman: bein yashan le-hadash,” Madda‘ei ha-yahadut 54 (2019): 215-244.
Eliezer Schlossberg, “Midreshei teiman al ha-aftariyyot,” Ma‘yanot 1 (2023): 109-134, at pp. 124-126.
Zechariah ben Solomon ha-Rofe, Sefer ha-haftariyyot le-kol ha-shanah […] im peirush ha-razah, ed. Isaac Damati and Judah Levi Nahum ([Holon]: Ha-Va‘ad la-Hasifat Ginzei-Teiman, 1965).
Zechariah ben Solomon ha-Rofe, Midrash ha-hefets al hamishah hummeshei torah: sefer be-reshit, ed. Meir Havazelet (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1981), 50.
Zechariah ben Solomon ha-Rofe, Midrash ha-hefets al hamishah hummeshei torah, ed. Meir Havazelet, 2 vols. (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1990-1992), 1:28.
Zechariah ben Solomon ha-Rofe, Midrash megillat ester, ed. Judah Levi Nahum, in Sefer aggadeta di-megillah, ed. Shemaiah Isaac ha-Levi (Israel: Ha-Va‘ad le-Hatsalat Ginzei Hakhmei Teiman, 1994), v, 131-144.