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Country of Location:
Country of Location
Switzerland
Location:
Location
Zürich
Library / Collection:
Library / Collection
Braginsky Collection
Shelfmark:
Shelfmark
B262
Manuscript Title:
Manuscript Title
Passover Haggadah with Yiddish translation of Had Gadya (Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch Haggadah)
Caption:
Caption
Parchment · 23 ff. · 32 x 20.4 cm · [Central or Northern Europe], copied and decorated by Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch · 1730
Language:
Language
Hebrew, Yiddish
Manuscript Summary:
Manuscript Summary
This Passover Haggadah with a Yiddish translation of the hymn Had Gadya (f. 23r) was copied and illustrated by Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch (now Velke Mezirici, Tschechische Republik). It contains, among others, a decorated title page, a cycle depicting ceremonies performed during the Jewish Passover seder, nine text illustrations, and a cycle for the concluding hymn Had Gadya (f. 23r). (red)
DOI (Digital Object Identifier):
DOI (Digital Object Identifier
10.5076/e-codices-bc-b-0262 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5076/e-codices-bc-b-0262)
Permanent link:
Permanent link
https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bc/b-0262
IIIF Manifest URL:
IIIF Manifest URL
IIIF Drag-n-drop https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/metadata/iiif/bc-b-0262/manifest.json
How to quote:
How to quote
Zürich, Braginsky Collection, B262: Passover Haggadah with Yiddish translation of Had Gadya (Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch Haggadah) (https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bc/b-0262).
Online Since:
Online Since
12/18/2014
External resources:
External resources
Rights:
Rights
Images:
(Concerning all other rights see each manuscript description and our Terms of use)
Document Type:
Document Type
Manuscript
Century:
Century
18th century
Dated:
Dated
1730
Decoration:
Decoration
Figurative, Full Page, Fully Painted, Initial, Ornamental, Text Block
Liturgica hebraica:
Liturgica hebraica
Haggadah
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e-codices · 11/28/2014, 17:19:36

Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch (now Velke Mezirici, Czech Republic) is known to have produced at least twenty-five illustrated manuscripts, with dates ranging from 1723 to 1739. His output includes Haggadot, Grace after Meals, Tikkunei Shabbat (mystical prayers for the Sabbath), Tefillot Yom Kippur Katan (prayers for the Minor Day of Atonement), books for the counting of the Omer, and Psalms.
Most of the manuscripts of Nathan ben Simson of Mezeritsch do not mention a place of production; this Haggadah is no exception. One must take into account that the addition of a place to an individual’s name can indicate that that person was no longer living there. Although it is not known if personal or political reasons motivated his movements, it is obvious that he traveled. He may well have spent a number of years in Rotterdam, or have visited that city regularly; at least four of his manuscripts can be linked to Rotterdam patrons. A 1730 Haggadah in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem (Heb. Ms. 8°2237) was copied for Alexander Segal of Hanover, whereas a 1723 Tefillot Yom Kippur Katan in a private collection was ordered by a Dusseldorf patron, Zalman ben Jospe.
The Haggadah in the Braginsky Collection contains a decorated title page, a cycle depicting ceremo- nial rituals performed during the seder, nine text illustrations, one decorated initial word panel, three historiated initial letters, and two pages with a cycle of illustrations for the concluding hymn Had Gadya (23r–v). These illustrations were an invention of the scribes of the eighteenth century and do not occur in printed Haggadot of the period, such as the Amsterdam Haggadot of 1695 and 1712, which otherwise were sources of inspiration for most of the handwritten, illustrated eighteenth-century Haggadot. Whereas most of his colleagues were draughtsmen, Nathan ben Simson was a talented painter. As such, his work is strongly reminiscent of another Moravian artist of the period, Moses ben Judah Leib Wolf Broda, the scribe-artist of the famous Von Geldern Haggadah (also see cat. no. 38).

From: A Journey through Jewish Worlds. Highlights from the Braginsky collection of Hebrew manuscripts and printed books, hrsg. E. M. Cohen, S. L. Mintz, E. G. L. Schrijver, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 122.

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A Journey through Jewish Worlds. Highlights from the Braginsky collection of Hebrew manuscripts and printed books, hrsg. E. M. Cohen, S. L. Mintz, E. G. L. Schrijver, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 122-123.

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