Auction 109 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Megillot and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Sod Hashem – Amsterdam, 1745 / Brit Yitzchak – Amsterdam, 1768 – With Mohel Ledger from 1802-1832 – Parchment Order of Circumcision
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $4,000
Including buyer's premium
Two books for circumcision, bound together, beginning with a handwritten parchment manuscript with prayers for circumcision, concluding with a lengthy mohel ledger, comprising valuable historical documentary material:
Sod Hashem, with Sharvit HaZahav, prayers, halachot and customs of circumcision, by R. David of Lida, with additions. Amsterdam: sons of Shlomo Proops, 1745.
Bound with: Brit Yitzchak, tikun for eve of circumcision. Amsterdam: Yisrael Mondovy for Gerard Johann Janson, [1768]. At center of title page, woodcut illustration of the circumcision.
At beginning of Brit Yitzchak, Portuguese dedication of R. Shlomo Levi Maduro to mohalim. On leaf 12, order of circumcision for an adult and for Marranos.
On last three pages, chronological list in Portuguese of mohalim in Amsterdam and other Portuguese communities (including Bayonne, Suriname and Curaçao) with their dates of activity between 1721-1765. At end of list of mohalim in Amsterdam, the name of a mohel is added by hand: "Abrhaham de Jacob Israel", with the date listed as "5544" (1784).
At the beginning of the book are four manuscript leaves, in neat scribal writing on parchment, with prayers for Brit Milah. On first parchment leaf, handwritten title page, with a flowery frame, with an ownership inscription in gilt, red and black ink: "This song belongs to the lofty leader… R. Bendit son of R. Eizik, son-in-law of R. Hirsch Wiener, made and written by Elchanan Sofer son of R. Yehudah Gunzhausen (called Chanan Schreiber) in Amsterdam, [1768]". The prayers are written in Torah scroll script, in black ink, with headers and decorations and frames around pages, in gilt ink.
After the two printed books is a handwritten mohel ledger belonging to the mohel Tzvi Hirsch de Graaf of the Rachmanuth family, a well-known Ashkenazi family in Amsterdam, the son of Bendit son of Eizik mentioned on the abovementioned parchment leaf. The first leaf of the ledger is entitled Mazal Tov, followed by a detailed list covering many leaves, comprising 249 circumcisions performed by the mohel Tzvi Hirsch Rachmanuth, covering a period of over 30 years – 25th Iyar 1802 to Av 1832.
Each circumcision inscription has the Hebrew name of the circumcised child, the Hebrew date of birth and date of circumcision, as well as secular name and secular date of birth. About fifty of the first circumcisions also contain the Hebrew name of the mohel. In several places are longer and more detailed circumcision inscriptions. The vast majority of inscriptions do not record the location of circumcision, but at times various cities in the Netherlands are mentioned: the Hague, Schoonhoven, Gorinchem (inscription no. 133 mentions a dedication of a synagogue held in this city on the day of circumcision) and more.
Inscription no. 69 records a circumcision of the mohel's son, Baruch Bendit, and inscription no. 134 records a circumcision of another son, Yehudah Leib. Later in the ledger are birth inscriptions of the mohel's six daughters, and death inscriptions of his father, father-in-law and several others.
After inscription no. 249, one of the mohel's sons added a handwritten inscription on his father's passing on Tuesday, 14th Av 1833 (on the verso of the page is a death inscription for the writer's mother in 1843, and the following leaf contains several more death inscriptions for his brothers and brothers-in-law up to 24th Iyar [April 20] 1880).
Elaborate original leather binding, with gilt floral decorations. Inscription on front of binding: "Bendit son of R. Eizik"; and at bottom of front binding: "The mohel Hirsch son of Bendit Rachmanuth". The volume appears to have been originally made for the father, who did not use it as a mohel ledger, and it was subsequently used by the son to document the circumcisions he performed, and his name was apparently inscribed on the binding at a later point in time.
Sod Hashem: 30 leaves. Brit Yitzchak: [2], 17, [1] leaves. Handwritten prayers at beginning of volume: [4] leaves. Mohel ledger and birth and death inscriptions: [25] leaves (and more blank leaves). 15.5 cm. Good to good-fair condition. Stains. Wear and signs of use (especially to mohel ledger). Tears, affecting text of several leaves. Close trimming, affecting text in several places in Sod Hashem. Elaborate original leather binding, with minor defects (repairs to edge of spine).
Bookplates of Mozes Heiman Gans and Sigmund Seeligmann.
Dutch Jewry – Communal Regulations and Mohel Ledgers – Manuscripts and Printed Items
Dutch Jewry – Communal Regulations and Mohel Ledgers – Manuscripts and Printed Items