Beschreibung:

One of the most famous witnesses to the Sephardic recension of the Targumim to both the Prophets and the Writings.
In antiquity, the Hebrew Bible was translated into a number of major world languages, including Greek, Jewish Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin. The “official” Jewish Aramaic translation (known in Hebrew by the term Targum) of the Pentateuch is attributed to the proselyte Onkelos (second century CE), while that of the Prophets is attributed to Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel (first century BCE-first century CE). Both of these Targumim seem to share certain translational and interpretive approaches to the biblical text, including an emphasis on the plain meaning thereof, as well as a common literary Aramaic idiom, probably dating from the first or early second century CE in Palestine, even if some Babylonian Aramaic features did enter in the course of the texts’ redaction in the east. By contrast, the Targumim to the Writings are later, unattributed creations that vary widely in both provenance and methodology.
The present lot belongs to a small group of manuscripts representing the Sephardic tradition of Targum Jonathan to the Prophets (starting at I Sam. 5:10b), as well as the Targumim to the first three books of the Writings: Psalms, Job, and Proverbs (ending at Prov. 31:25a). Each verse of Targum begins with the first word or words of that verse in Hebrew surmounted by three dots in a triangular formation. In the Prophets portion of the volume, the scribe interpolated numerous so-called toseftot (additions) into the text of Targum Jonathan. These largely allegorical-midrashic expansions, written in Babylonian Aramaic, are only sometimes noted in the margins. In the Writings portion, the copyist marked masoretic parashiyyot (paragraph breaks) by enlarging the Hebrew headwords.
The text is written in an elegant, characteristically Sephardic semi-cursive script on paper bearing Italian/Sicilian watermarks, likely indicating that the scribe was working in either Italy or North Africa, rather than the Iberian Peninsula. According to the colophon (f. 257v), the first portion of the manuscript (through the end of the Prophets) was completed on [Tuesday,] 1 Shevat 5247 (December 26, 1486), on behalf of David ben Nissim ha-Rofe ben Bibas. By mid-1841, the volume had been acquired somewhere in Africa by the great Italian Jewish philologist, poet, and biblical exegete Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal; 1800-1865), the first modern researcher to publish about its value for Targum studies. About forty years later, Abraham Berliner included this codex in a partial catalogue of the famed collection of Solomon Joachim Halberstam (Shazhah; 1832-1900), a wealthy Polish Jewish scholar and bibliophile. The book was later purchased from Halberstam on behalf of the Judith Lady Montefiore College in Ramsgate, England, by Rabbi Moses Gaster (1856-1939), principal of the College between 1891 and 1896.
Since that time, this manuscript has been praised for its “important variations” from the commonly available editions, variations that “would repay special study.” Its readings have been incorporated into numerous editions and translations of the Targumim to the Prophets, Psalms, Job, and Proverbs, including the highly influential critical edition of Targum Jonathan issued by Alexander Sperber in 1959.
Contentsff. 1r-43v: I Sam. 5:10b-13:4a, 14:15b-26:21a, 28:15b-II Sam. 24:25;ff. 43v-91v: I-II Kings;ff. 92r-133r: Isaiah;ff. 133r-178v: Jeremiah;ff. 178v-220r: Ezekiel;ff. 220v-257v: Twelve Minor Prophets;ff. 258r-305v: Psalms;ff. 305v-326v: Job;ff. 326v-342v: Prov. 1:1-31:25a.
Physical Description340 of at least 348 folios (11 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 291 x 215 mm) (likely original collation: i6 [i1-5,11 lacking], ii12, iii11 [iii1 lacking], iv-xix12, xx14, xxi12, xxii8 [xxii9-10 canceled], xxiii-xxiv12, xxv6, xxvi-xxix12, xxx7 [xxx8 lacking]) on paper (f. 287v blank); watermarks of ff. 1-257 similar to Briquet 11154 (Palermo, 1479/1482 and Catania, 1480) and of ff. 258-342 similar to Piccard 11-2-592 (Lucca, 1477), perhaps indicating a gap in the production of the two parts of the manuscript; modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in upper-outer corners of rectos (ff. 1-342; ff. 6, 20 are modern blanks); written in neat Sephardic semi-cursive script in brown ink; single-column text of thirty lines per page; ruled in blind; justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters, insertion of space fillers, use of anticipatory letters, abbreviation, and suspended or distanced (beyond the line of justification) inscription of final letters, particularly the final nun; horizontal catchwords in-line with final line of text on most versos but near foot of last page of each quire; episodic Tiberian vocalization; Tetragrammaton abbreviated to two yodin followed by a wavy line; early headers and/or chapter numeration on ff. 133v-148r; later marginal chapter and verse citations added by Shadal on many pages near upper-outer corners, and later marginal chapter numeration on ff. 258-340; table of toseftot added by Shadal at front of volume; superlinear strikethroughs and marginalia in primary and secondary hands. Enlarged incipits; Hebrew headword(s) of each verse surmounted by three dots in a triangle formation; the Song of David (II Sam. 22) laid out to look like brickwork on ff. 40r-41v; tapering text on ff. 91v, 220r, 230r, 235r, 244v, 257v; Montefiore library stamp in lower margin of f. 1r. Probably lacking at least 8 folios (see collation), plus an unknown number before the start of the book of Samuel and, possibly, after the end of the book of Proverbs; all leaves mounted on guards; staining and dampstaining throughout, sometimes washing out or obscuring text (e.g., ff. 36r, 39r-v, 78v, 80r, 104r, 328v-342v); periodic minor worming, mostly marginal, often repaired; small repairs frequently in edges; ff. 1-5, 7-20 tissued; larger repairs on ff. 1-5, 7-10, affecting text; smaller repairs on ff. 11-19, 21-23, 26, 78, 198, mostly marginal; small holes in text of f. 176. Modern three-quarters morocco over cloth boards, very slightly scuffed; spine in six compartments with raised bands; Montefiore shelf mark (no. 7) lettered in gilt in second compartment from bottom; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
Literature Abraham Berliner, “Eine seltene Privat-Bibliothek,” Magazin für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums 8,2 (1881): 108-116; 9,4 (1882): 170-173, at 8:116 (no. 33).
Kevin J. Cathcart and Robert P. Gordon (trans.), The Targum of the Minor Prophets (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1989), 19.
Bruce D. Chilton (trans.), The Isaiah Targum (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1987), xxx.
Luis Díez Merino, “Manuscritos del Targum de Job,” Henoch 4,1 (March 1982): 41-64, at p. 64.
Luis Díez Merino, Targum de Proverbios: Edición Príncipe del Ms. Villa-Amil n.o 5 de Alfonso de Zamora (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1984), 141.
Solomon Joachim Halberstam, Kohelet shelomoh (Vienna: A. Fanto, 1890), 14 (no. 116).
Daniel J. Harrington and Anthony J. Saldarini (trans.), Targum Jonathan of the Former Prophets (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1987), 2.
Robert Hayward (trans.), The Targum of Jeremiah (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1987), 12-13, 43.
Hartwig Hirschfeld, “New Aramaic Dictionary,” The Jewish Quarterly Review 10,3 (April 1898): 562-564, at p. 563.
Hartwig Hirschfeld, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library (London: Macmillan and Co.; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904), 2 (no. 7).
Ahuva Ho, The Targum of Zephaniah: Manuscripts and Commentary (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009), 65-66.
Alberdina Houtman and Harry Sysling, Alternative Targum Traditions: The Use of Variant Readings for the Study in Origin and History of Targum Jonathan (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009), 42, 57.
Rimon Kasher, Toseftot targum la-nevi’im (Jerusalem: World Union for Jewish Studies, 1996), 14-15.
Samson H. Levey (trans.), The Targum of Ezekiel (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1987), xiii.
Samuel David Luzzatto, “Nachträgliches über die Thargumim,” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für jüdische Theologie 5,1 (1844): 124-137, at pp. 131-137.
Samuel David Luzzatto, Iggerot shadal, ed. Eisig Gräber, vol. 1 (Przemyśl: Zupnik & Knoller, 1882), 738-743 (no. CCC), at pp. 741-742.
Samuel David Luzzatto, letter in Gabriel Pollack (ed.), Sefer halikhot kedem, pt. 2 (Amsterdam: David ben Jacob Proops Katz, 1847), 36-54, at pp. 39, 48-49.
Alexander Sperber, “Specimen of a Targum Edition,” in Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (New York: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945), 293-303, esp. pp. 293-295 (English section).
Alexander Sperber (ed.), Kitvei ha-kodesh ba-aramit al yesod kitvei-yad u-sefarim attikim, 4 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1959-1973), 2:vi, 3:vi, 4B:139-140.
David M. Stec, The Text of the Targum of Job: An Introduction and Critical Edition (Leiden; New York; Köln: E.J. Brill, 1994), 54-55.
Johanna Maria Tanja, “Targum Samuel in Sepharad” (PhD diss., Protestant Theological University, 2020), 38-42, 193.
Emanuel White, “A Critical Edition of the Targum of Psalms: A Computer Generated Text of Books I and II” (PhD diss., McGill University, 1988), 52-53 (no. 21).
Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman, “An Electronic Edition of Targum Samuel” (2009), 74 (S702), available at: https://www.academia.edu/3048637/An_Electronic_Edition_of_Targum_Samuel.
Max Wilcox, “The Aramaic Targum to Psalms,” Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies 9,1 (1985): 143-150, at p. 148.