Beschreibung:

The present lot comprises a large portion of the third book in the Mishneh torah series, entitled Sefer zemannim, which treats the feasts and fasts of the Jewish calendar. The material here preserved covers the labors prohibited on the Sabbath and holidays, the laws relating to Yom Kippur, Passover (including the text of the Haggadah), Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and fast days, the special rules governing the annual donation of a half-shekel required during Temple times, and the procedure for the sanctification of the New Moon. Like many other of his Yemenite manuscripts, David Solomon Sassoon purchased this volume from Elias Abraham Saadia Solomon Halfon of Aden (between mid-March 1928 and mid-July 1929), who went by the name Elias Abraham Morris when he later immigrated to New York City. It is one of about twenty known significant Yemenite copies of Sefer zemannim likely made before the fifteenth century and thus constitutes an important witness to this fundamental text of Jewish law.
Contentspp. 1-89: Hilkhot shabbat 8:3b-8:13a, 10:6-10:18a, 11:4b-21:6a, 21:27b-22:22a, 23:8b-23:18a, 23:28b-25:1, 25:12b-end;pp. 90-124: Hilkhot eiruvin;pp. 124-130: Hilkhot shevitat asor;pp. 130-162: Hilkhot shevitat yom tov 1:1-7:21a, 8:6b-end;pp. 162-184: Hilkhot hamets u-matsah;pp. 184-189: Nussah ha-haggadah;pp. 189-214: Hilkhot shofar ve-sukkah ve-lulav 1:1-8:16a;pp. 215-220: Hilkhot shekalim 2:1b-4:1a;pp. 221-270: Hilkhot kiddush ha-hodesh 3:7b-4:9a, 4:17b-13:6a, 15:3b-end;pp. 270-272: Hilkhot ta‘aniyyot 1:1-1:2a, 2:5b-2:16a.
Physical Description272 pages (9 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.; 236 x 170 mm) (likely original collation: [i1-6 lacking], ii1 [ii1-8,10 lacking], iii7 [iii1-2,4 lacking], iv10, v9 [v10 lacking], vi6 [vi1,5-6,8 lacking], vii9 [vii1 lacking], viii-x10, xi9 [xi8 lacking], xii-xiii10, xiv9 [xiv7 lacking], xv5 [xv1-4,7 lacking], xvi9 [xvi10 lacking], xvii9 [xvii1 lacking], xviii3 [xviii3-4,6-10 lacking], [xix1-6 lacking]) on Yemenite (unmarked) paper; modern pagination in pencil in Arabic numerals in or near upper-outer corners; first and final pages of each quire signed in pen at head and foot, respectively, in Hebrew characters (often damaged or obscured but visible on, e.g., pp. 12, 36-37, 66, 84, 104, 124, 203); 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, insertion of space fillers, hyphenation, abbreviation, and slanted inscription of final words; original horizontal catchword in lower margin of last page of each quire (often damaged or obscured but visible on, e.g., pp. 12, 36, 66, 84, 104, 124, 202, 230, 266); modern horizontal catchwords in pencil in lower margins of pp. 112, 248; periodic Tiberian or Babylonian vocalization of text; Tetragrammaton abbreviated to three yodin in a row with a dot above the middle one; later halakhah numeration in ink in Hebrew characters on pp. 125-130, 193-195; corrections, strikethroughs, and/or marginalia (including in Judeo-Arabic) in primary and secondary hands, the marginalia often cropped. Enlarged (generally) red headings and incipits, sometimes accompanied by red rosettes; additional rubrication on pp. 25, 84, 124, 130, 162, 188-189, 199, 247, 249, 254-261, 268-270. Probably lacking about 46 folios: fourteen before p. 1, eleven after p. 272, four between pp. 220-221, three between pp. 2-3, two between pp. 54-55, 60-61, 248-249, 270-271, and one between pp. 4-5, 62-63, 66-67, 158-159, 214-215, 224-225; pp. 19-22 misbound and belong between pp. 4-5, pp. 23-24 misbound and belong between pp. 14-15, pp. 175-176 misbound and belong between pp. 180-181; frequent damage in margins, often affecting some text; damage more severe on pp. 17-20, 23-24, 63-66, 155-156, 161-162, 165-168, 171-172, 187-188, 269-272; pages closely cropped; scattered staining and dampstaining; some abrasion of lettering; rodent damage on pp. 61-84, 93-104, 107-120; repair in outer edges of pp. 121-122; pp. 271-272 loose. Modern brown buckram, slightly scratched; shelf mark lettered in gilt at base of spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
LiteratureSassoon 1180 (not catalogued in Ohel Dawid)