BS
1222
.B58
STORAGE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
A bibliographical and literary account of a
manuscript Hebrew roll,containing the
"Pentateuch.
B 389205
3 9015 07331 9355
1
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all
BS
1222
..858
Α
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY ACCOUNT
!
OF A
MANUSCRIPT HEBREW ROLL,
40
CONTAINING
THE "PENTATEUCH."
PRINTED AT THE
ВАТН :
"CHRONICLE" OFFICE, KINGSTON BUILDINGS.
1867.
1
1
6
Fiz
한
​פרכת
אָרין
Fig I
קֶשֶׁר +
Fig 8.
First
Jewish
Shekels.
(Parocheth) Curtain
Aron ) Ark) ארון .2
Fig. 3
I.
Fig 2.
Jig 3.9
Fy 4.
Fig
משפחת
Fig
Fig &
1 b x
(Mithachath) Cloak or wrapper
(Kesher) a band or tie 4 ft. 252. Long 2" wide
NDP (Mappa) the mantle
(Yod) Hand or pointer.
חי
-- (Etz Chayim) the Frees of Life.
Inns (ether Halorath) Crown of the Law
Fig 9. Samaritan Text, Fig. 10. Text of the Roll.
Fig 11. Text ifles Hebrew. Pentateuch with. Points of Exod. xv. I he
Fig.4
85
מפי
פויות
3687
Roll opened, showing junction
7. Parchment strips.
-Exodus chap.XV. .I.
Then sang Moser and the Children of Israel JHIS SONG unto the Lord, and shake,
Fig 5
מפא
Fig 9
4א
אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל את השירה הזאת ליהוה ויאמר
אז יָשִׁיר משה וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַשִׁירָה הַזֹּאת לַיהוָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ
A
28278.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY ACCOUNT
OF A
MANUSCRIPT HEBREW ROLL
CONTAINING
THE "PENTATEUCH."
PRINTED AT THE
""
BATH:
CHRONICLE" OFFICE, KINGSTON BUILDINGS.
1867.
A
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY ACCOUNT
OF A
MANUSCRIPT HEBREW ROLL.
The volume which is described in the ensuing pages was
purchased at the sale of the library of the late Manuel F.
Johnson, Esq., Radcliffe Observer at Oxford. It was sold
on May 27th, 1862, by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson,
and is described in their catalogue in the following terms :-
"Lot 57. Mosis Pentateuchus Hebraicè, cum Punctis,
beautifully written on vellum as a Roll (47 feet in length,
and 4 inches in breadth), on carved ivory rollers, with
carved ivory hand as a pointer, and cover of embroidery of
silk, gold and silver threads, enclosed in a mahogany Ark,
with embroidered veil. One of the most elegant Hebrew
Rolls ever offered for sale."
Although the bibliographical description of a Hebrew
Roll is usually very concise and unattractive, it is not be-
cause the subject is in itself intrinsically destitute of
interest, but really because there is seldom any attempt
made to make it otherwise. To an intelligent Jew this
neglect is not of any consequence; but intellectual or
religious persons of the Christian faith will find both interest
and sympathy in looking at a Hebrew roll, when they are
informed of something more than the title of it, even though
the appearance of the characters may be repulsive to them,
and the language quite unknown. Under the impression
of these considerations, it is proposed to give such a
literary account of the fine volume of the Pentateuch pro-
cured from Mr. Johnson's library, as may serve to exhibit
some of the many points of interest which it contains,
common to all such as read and regard the Holy Scriptures.
The collation, also, which is here given, may possibly be
found useful as a guide to any other manuscript roll of the
Five Books of Moses; but the volume now to be described
is more than usually complete in all its appointments,
though it never could have belonged to any synagogue.
It is of course very generally known that the Hebrew
Sacred Books of the Law which are used in public worship, are
manuscripts, and that they are not of the ordinary square
form, but are wound round umbilici, or rollers, in the
manner of the Roman volumes; excepting that the Hebrew
writings are rolled from both ends, and meet in the centre.
They have, however, several peculiarities, proper to such
•
records only; some account of which may very appropriately
precede any statement of the contents of this roll, as
supplying a general description of its external features.
All copies of The Law must be transcribed from ancient
manuscripts, of approved character only (note i.), in the
old square letter, with pure ink, and on parchment pre-
pared for the express purpose by a Jew, who is neither
a heretic nor a Samaritan, from the skin of a clean
animal (note ii.). The different membranes of the Roll
are to be secured to each other by fine thread, spun
by a Jewess, or by ligatures, also taken from clean
animals; and every membrane must contain a certain
number of columns of prescribed dimensions, each consisting
of a certain number of lines and words (note iii.). None
of the words may be written with points, or by memory, or
without being first pronounced by the transcriber; and the
Name of God is not to be written but with great devotion
and attention, and the pen is to be washed before writing
it. The want of a single letter, or the redundancy of a
single letter; the writing of prose as verse (open) or verse
as prose (close), will all be sufficient to vitiate a manuscript;
and when a copy has been completed it must be examined
and corrected within thirty days afterwards, to determine
whether it shall be received or rejected. If the transcript
should be approved, there is usually a certificate to that
effect added at the end; and, as the presentation of such a
copy of the Law to a synagogue is regarded as an act of
merit, the name of the donor is included in the subscrip-
tion. The present Roll, however, terminates with the end
of the Book of Deuteronomy, excepting that the last three
words of it have never been written. It is, therefore,
certain that this volume has never been examined or pre-
sented; though there does not appear to be any reason for
supposing it to be otherwise than correct. The writing was
probably executed in Holland, in the early part of the last
century, and it is uniformly good, but not all equally
excellent. There are not any points in it, though the title
in the catalogue of the sale whence it was purchased,
contains the words cum punctis; but there are many
instances of letters in proper names surmounted with
apices, or ornaments like horns or plumes, which are not
admitted into the most orthodox manuscripts. The whole
extent of this Roll appears to be about 47 feet 3 inches; and
Rock, MVP.,
6-13-41
it is composed of 51 separate membranes, sewed together,
measuring 44 inches in depth. The writing is in a small,
rough, square character, in columns, 3 inches in height,
by one inch and five-eighths in breadth; each containing
forty-two lines, quite filled up, but the parchment has been
ruled for one line more. The initial and concluding words
of each book do not differ from the rest of the writing, but
at the end of each book the space of four lines is left before
the commencement of the next. The several skins are all
remarkably white and fine, soft and substantial, almost
like stout white kid leather, but they vary in length from
nearly 16 inches to 64 inches, and the number of columns
written on them is from three to seven; though in a single
instance there are eight. A collation of the particular
extent of the several books is given in the following list :-
I. GENESIS-Berashith-In the Beginning-Mem-
branes-1-14, ending on column 65.
II. EXODUS-Shemoth—The Names-Membr. 14-24,
ending on col. 55.
III. LEVITICUS-Vaikra-And He called-Membr.
24-32, ending on col. 40.
IV. NUMBERS - Vanildibar
And spake He-
Membr. 32-42, ending on col. 58.
V. DEUTERONOMY-Alehe Debarim- These are the
Words-Membr. 42-51, ending on col. 49.
There cannot be a doubt, however fastidiously
scrupulous the regulations for transcribing these Rolls
may be regarded in modern times, that the religious
observance of them, which has continued undisputed
for so many centuries, has been providentially em-
ployed as one effectual means of preserving the purity of
the Pentateuch. Out of the careful practice of distinguish-
ing between the writing of prose and verse, arises also one
very interesting feature which may be noticed in this Roll;
since the great poetical compositions occurring in the early
books of the Scriptures are thus made manifest to the sight
of all, even when the characters of the language are
unknown. The Pentateuch likewise contains many other
passages of interest, not easily to be distinguished in such
a manuscript as the present, but which are capable of being
readily pointed out by a very simple system of reference.
Firstly, therefore, all the Membranes, or skins, of the
volume, are numbered on the plan of the English Record
Rolls of the middle-ages; commencing with the Book of
Genesis, at the right hand end, and continuing in one series
to the close of Deuteronomy. These divisions are lightly
marked in red at the upper right hand of each skin; and,
after the end of the first book, there is added the particular
numeral of the membrane of every following book in its
order. The Columns are numbered below for every book
separately. (Note iv.) The method of reference having
been thus explained, a few of the most interesting passages
in each of the Five Books of Moses may now be noticed;
and it is evident that the same system may be employed
for the illustration of any other Hebrew Roll, if there
should not be any objection to marking it.
4
I. GENESIS.
The first remarkable passage in this volume is the genea-
logical account of the descendants of Noah, by whom the
nations were divided in the earth after the Flood.
In the printed text of the Holy Scriptures this passage
occurs in chap. x. and xi., and on this Roll it commences
on Membrane 3, with the last three lines of Column 11, and
the whole of Column 12. The many proper names con-
tained in this part of the text will probably very easily be
distinguished.
The call of Abraham, as related in chap. xii. of the
printed text, will also be found on column 12.
The narrative of the trial of the faith of Abraham in the
command given to him to offer up Isaac, as related in
chap. xxii. of the printed text, is written on Membrane 6,
Column 28. It is recited daily, in the early part of every
morning service. Ishmael's alienation of the birthright
is on column 29; and the account of the artifice of
Rebekah and Jacob for obtaining the blessing of Isaac,
chap. xxvii. of the printed text, is on column 31.
On Membrane 7, Column 33, is written the narrative of
the vision of Jacob at Beth-El, printed text chap. xxviii.,
10, and in the last word of the column it will be seen that
a single character (Daleth) is elongated to a very un-
usual length, being equal to nearly three words in the
preceding line, though one of them is written with an
extended letter. In Hebrew writing it is never permitted,
that a word should be divided; and therefore several of the
letters may be extended for the purpose of filling up a
line, or for distinguishing a name, a title, or an important
expression. In the present instance it is probable that the
transcriber desired to make the last word in his copy of
this column agree with that in the original manuscript,
since the word itself-Gnemodi-" and will keep me "-is
not especially important. The greater part of the
Patriarch's vow occupies the upper lines of coluran 34.
At this particular part of the Roll, to the end of
Genesis, the ordinary separation of the book becomes
extremely difficult to identify; and the divisions of the
chapters of the printed text must be sought for in the half
lines of close columns or of long and unbroken paragraphs.
For weekly reading in the synagogue, the five Books
of Moses are divided into fifty-four sections,
the arrangement of which is called Sedarim, a Syriac word
meaning the order or series, one of which constitutes the
first lesson every Sabbath-day; and each section is again
separated into seven portions, one of which is read to one
of seven persons, who are called up to the altar to hear
them. The printed Hebrew Bibles contain both of these
divisions-chapters and sections-properly numbered; but
in the present Roll there are not any distinctive marks
attached to any of the sections and paragraphs. There are
to be found, however, so many proper names of persons
and places in all the early books of the Holy Scriptures,
that they will generally assist in the identification of a
5
10
•
passage in the Law; and, therefore, even in the dense
mass of writing at the latter part of the first book of this
Roll, may be recognised the prophetical and poetical
blessing of the dying Jacob, as contained in chap. xlix. of
the printed text It occurs on Membrane 14, and it
occupies Columns 62 to 65. With the first five lines on
column 65 the book of Genesis is completed in this unanu-
script.
II. EXODUS.
After a blank of four lines, the Second Book of Moses
commences on the present Roll: and it contains two very
striking passages which cannot fail of exciting interest
when they are pointed out. The first is the Song of Moses
and the Israelites, after the destruction of the Egyptians
in the Red Sea; chap. xv. 1.19 of the printed text; which
being written as verse uttered by different voices, is very
easy to be recognised and understood. The other remark-
able passage contains the Decalogue, as it appears in the
printed text, chap. xx. 1-14, and the several Command-
ments are distinguished in this manuscript by small red
Roman numerals. It will be found on Membrane 19 (6 of
Book II) Column 25.
The Song of Moses is written on Membrane 18, Column 19,
and it exhibits, by the peculiar arrangement of the lines,
the dialogue form in which it was chaunted. There cannot
be a doubt that all the poetry of the ancient Hebrews was
regularly rhythmical, though the rules by which their verses
were composed are certainly now unknown. It was also
often antiphonal, or responsive; as the passage which is
now referred to, with many others, indisputably indicate;
and that it was made up of similar, or balanced, sentences,
in the nature of proverbs,—generally called parallelisms,
seems to be the chief distinguishing characteristic f
Hebrew verse, which is the most commonly admitted at
the present time, after all the investigation and learning
which have been devoted to the subject.
The very artificial and expressive arrangement
of the Song of Moses and the Children of Israel,
as it is here written, and always printed in Hebrew,
seems intended visibly to exhibit the manner in which it
was alternately chaunted or sung; and the same order is
also followed in the triumphal song of Deborah and
Baruk, after the destruction of Sisera, Judges, chap. v.
This peculiar arrangement may first be shewn by the
following diagram :
In this figure the top line represents the prose passage
in which the song is introduced, 'Then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake:' the
word 'saying' is represented by the short dash at the right
hand of the next line; and the commencement by Moses,
'I will sing unto the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously,'
is shown by the long rule in the centre. The second short
dash on the left stands for the words 'the horse,' the
remainder of the sentence being completed by the right
hand rule of the next line. The written passages of the
Roll, therefore, appear to express the verses of the poem
as given forth by Moses, standing between two large bodies
of the Israelites, and the intervening spaces the repetition
of them by all the tribes; whilst the imperfect verses at
the beginning and ending of each line seem to indicate the
unceasing succession of the song being carried on until it
was finished. In the very close condensation of the
Hebrew, there is not any difficulty in compressing the
several verses into these short spaces; but all translations
are unavoidably more or less diffuse than the original, and
thus the visible measure becomes lost. An attempt, how-
has been made on another page to exhibit the English
version of the song arranged in the Hebrew order, but the
irregularity occasioned by the difference of the languages
cannot be entirely overcome. In those editions of
the authorised version of the Holy Scriptures in which the
poetical parts are distinguished from the prose, the verses
of this song are printed only as separate paragraphs. This
passage of Scripture is included in the daily morning service
of the synagogue, and also in that for the morning of the
Sabbath.
ever,
The Book of Exodus is completed on Column 55, Mem-
brane 11, of the present Roll: and after a space of four
lines are written the first seven lines of the next. The
writing of the whole book occupies somewhat more than
nine membranes.
III. LEVITICUS.
This portion of the Law also extends through nine skins
of the volume, and it terminates on Membrane 32,
Column 40. The usual blark of four lines is left at the end
of it, and the same column contains likewise five lines of
the next book. The most remarkable passage in Leviticus
which may be noticed in the present Roll, is the section
containing the blessing pronounced on the faithful
Israelites, and the curse on such as should break the
Commandments, chap. xxvi. of the printed text,—which
will be found on Membrane 31, Columns 37 to 39.
IV. -NUMBERS.
The text of this book extends through 11 skins and 58
columns of manuscript, and it contains many passages of
the greatest importance, though they are not in general
such as are very characteristic externally. In the first
four columns, however, on Membrane 33, may be observed
the official returns made to Moses, in execution of the
command given to number the tribes of Israel, written in
short paragraphs, and easily to be distinguished
by the many proper names occurring in them. After
these may be noticed the solemn and eloquent Form of
Saying
THE SONG OF THE RED SE A.
Membr. 18, Col. 19. Addition to page 5.
Verse 1 THEN SANG MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THIS SONG UNTO THE LORD, AND SPAKE,
I WILL SING UNTO THE LORD, FOR HE HATH TRIUMPHED GLORIOUSLY:
And his rider hath he thrown into the Sea.
And is become my Salvation.
Of my Father, and I will exalt Him.
Is His Name,
Captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
A stone.
O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Them that rose up against Thee.
He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation.
4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea.
The horse
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
The God
[
3 The Lord is a Man of War: The Lord
His chosen
5 The depths have covered them, and they sank to the bottom, as
Thy right hand,
6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power:
Thou sentest forth Thy wrath which consumed them as stubble.
Of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together: -
The floods:
The enemy, I will pursue, I will overtake,
My soul:
With Thy wind, the sea covered them :
Mighty.
Is like unto Thee; glorious in holiness,
Wonders ?
7 And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown
8 And with the blast
And upright, like an heap stood
9 Then said
And the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
11 Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?
12 Thou stretchedst out Thy hand, the sea swallowed them.
In Thy mercy the People which Thou hast redeemed.
Of Thy holiness.
Shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palashath.
Of Edom;
Shall all the inhabitants of Canaan.
And dread:
Thy People pass over, O LORD.
Which Thou hast purchased.
Which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in
By Thy hands.
14 The peoples shall hear and be afraid.
I will divide the spoil; full of them shall be
10 Thou didst blow
They sank as lead in the waters
Who
Fearful in praises, doing
13 Thou hast led forth
Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto the habitation
The mighty men of Moab trembling shall take hold upon them:
By the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone,
Sorrow
15 Then shall be amazed the leaders
And melt away
16 Upon them shall fall fear
Until
Until that People pass over
In the place
In the sanctuary which hath been established
17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the Mountain of Thine inheritance.
18 The Lord shall reign for Ever and Ever
The horse of Pharoah went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the Sea,
Of the Sea.
But the Children of Israel went on Dry land
19 For
And THE LORD brought again upon them the waters
In the Midst of the Sea.
}
6
Blessing which the priests were appointed to use to bless
the children of Israel, chap. vi. 22 27 of the printed text,
written as a separate paragraph on Membrane 34,
Column 12. It is pronounced in all the daily morning
services of the synagogue. On the succeeding Column of
Membrane 34, commencing with the third line, appears the
catalogue of the offerings of the princes of the twelve tribes
for the dedication of the altar of the tabernacle, chap. vii.
12-88 of the printed text; and it extends to column 16 on
the following skin. In this book also, and nearly at this
part of it, occurs the last section of the solemn and indis-
pensable office of the daily devotion of the Jews called
Shema; being that portion of the text which appoints a
fringe of remembrance to be added to the ordinary gar-
ments. It forms the last paragraph of Column 27 on Mem-
brane 34, and in the printed versions it is contained in
chap. xv. 37-41; but the most important passages of it
belong to the ensuing book. In the subsequent parts of
the Book of Numbers, the following references include the
most interesting and remarkable subjects.
On Membrane 36, Columns 22, 23, is the list of those
persons whom Moses sent to search the land of Canaan,
chap. xiii. 4–16 of the printed text; and on Membrane 38,
Columns 37-40, is written the narrative relating to Balak
and Balaam, as contained in chaps. xxii-xxiv. of the
printed text. It will be observed that however poetical
is the language of the Prophet it was not regular Hebrew
verse, but appears in the continuous form of prose. On
Membrane 41, Columns 53, 54, is recorded the itinerary of
the forty-two journeys of the Israelites in the wilderness,
chap. xxxiii. 1-49 of the printed text; and on the same
skin, Column 55, beginning at the tenth line from the
bottom, are the names of those whom God appointed to
divide the promised land, chap. xxxiv. 16-29 of the
authorised version.
V. DEUTERONOMY.
The writing of this portion of the Law commences on
Membrane 42, Column 58, after a blank of four lines: but
the arrangement of the manuscript at this place differs
entirely from that of all the other parts of it in respect of
the same divisions, as the space occurs in the middle of the
column, between two paragraphs of 19 lines each. In this
invaluable book are contained many passages of the highest
interest and importance, but in a Hebrew Roll few of
them would be attractive or even evident to ordinary
sight. Two of those parts which are the most esteemed by
the Jews, are the sentences forming the first two sections
of the daily personal service of every religious Jew, called
Kiriath Shema, or the reading of the Shema, chap. iv. 4-9,
xi. 13-21, of the printed text. The first will be found on
Membrane 44, Column 11, of this Roll, and it may easily be
distinguished by the large size of the character Ain, at
the end of the commencing word Shema, Hear; whence
the office derives its name. It is that pre-eminent ordi-
nance of the Law, which is referred to by Jesus Christ as
being "the first and great commandment" (Matth. xxii.
37; Mark xii. 29, 30)-"HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD
OUR GOD IS ONE LORD. And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might. And THESE WORDS, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy children; and shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up." The second paragraph of the Shema is
less visible than the first in this manuscript, but it is
written on Membrane 45, Column 18. The Kiriath Shema,
in an extended form, is included in all the synagogue
services.
In these two passages are contained the authority for
wearing the Phylactery on the forehead, and the Tephillin
on the hand, during the act of prayer; for affixing the
Mezzuza in door-ways; and for the daily reading of those
parts of the Law, in which they are commanded, with the
passage from the book of Numbers relating to the memorial
fringes. Thou "shalt talk of them," says the ordinary
printed text of Deuteronomy, vi. 7-9, "when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when
thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt
bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as
frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them
upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Maimo-
nides has very properly defined night and morning to be
the meaning of the words "when thou liest down, and
when thou risest up :" and therefore the evening reading of
the Shema might take place from the time of the appear-
ance of the stars until midnight; after which it ought not
to be delayed, though a person might not then retire to
rest. In the morning, the recital might be made from the
dawn to the third hour of the day, or the time when the
morning sacrifice was appointed to be offered.
One of the most important passages in the present part
of this Roll is the repetition of the Decalogue as it appears
in chap. v. 6 18 of the printed text. It will be found on
Membrane 44, Column 10; and the several commandments
are indicated by small red Roman numerals, as they are in
the parallel passage in Exodus.
On Membranes 48, 49, Columns 37, 38, may be recog-
nized the short separate sentences of the curses pronounced
on Mount Ebal, as contained in chap. xxvii. 14-26 of the
printed text, and in the Commination Service of the Church
of England. The general repetition of blessings and
curses comprised in chap. xxvii. is written in the close
matter of columns 38-41.
At the close of the volume appears another of the most
interesting passages contained in it, and it is one also which
is perceptible and attractive to general observation from the
peculiar manner in which it is written. It is the last song
uttered by Moses before he ascended Mount Pisgah to die,
as recited in chap. xxxii. of the printed text, and it will be
found on Membrane 51, Columns 46, 47, of the Roll, in the
:
1
form of two narrow parallel columns of 35 short lines each.
The appearance of this composition in the manuscript is
represented by the following diagram; and on another
page an attempt has been made to give the Hebrew ar-
rangement with the English version, though with but
indifferent success.
On column 48 commences the solemn and eloquent
Blessing of the Twelve Tribes by the departing Moses,
the whole of which is poetical language of the highest
order;
but it is written in the consolidated form of
prose, and therefore does not appear to be regarded as
having been delivered in regular Hebrew verse. These
passages, however, are all printed as verse in the edition of
the Holy Scriptures published by Mr. John Reeves in 1801,
in which all the poetical parts are so distinguished, though
without any authority being given for the variation. In all
the ordinary Hebrew Bibles this part of the text is printed
as prose.
After these passages follows the short narrative of the
prophet's death, as related in chap. xxxiv. of the printed
text; and the volume then terminates with a column of 41
lines quite full, and one left entirely blank for the addition
of the three concluding words of Deuteronomy, whenever
the Roll should be completed and appropriated to the use
of a synagogue or of an individual.
Though the presentation of a manuscript copy of the
Law to a synagogue is regarded as a meritorious act, yet the
transcript, after it has been completed and approved, still
requires to be made up into a perfect Roll, with all the
proper external appointments belonging to it; most of
which may be regarded as similar to the binding of a book
for the service of the church. The first of these equip-
ments were the Rollers, round which one end of each
of the extreme skins was to be folded and sewed. There
is probably little doubt that these were originally two
natural wooden cylinders,-or parts of round branches
of trees,—until the importation of ivory by Solomon
introduced it as a more costly and valuable material-
as appears to be expressed in the name by which
those rollers are still known-"The Trees of Life'-the
probable origin of which is explained in the following
manner. The duty of unrolling and rolling up the volumes
of the Law; carrying them in procession round the syna-
gogue; holding them up above the altar to be seen by the
whole congregation; and reading certain lessons from them
7
on certain days; with other public services ;-may all be
executed by any Israelite, and are all esteemed to be espe-
cially honourable and meritorious. When these offices become
vacant, the privilege of performing them is offered to public
auction in the synagogue by one of the clerks (note v.),
and the funds which they produce are employed for the
support of that church, and the relief of the poor belonging to
it. In wealthy congregations these sums are occasionally very
considerable, and Buxtorf states that the privilege of un-
rolling and rolling up the Law, and elevating the open
volumes before the people, was eagerly bought by the
younger Jews in Germany. They consider, he says, that
the very handling of the bands by which the books are tied,
and the rollers, as the Trees of Life,' will make them wise
and prosperous, preserve their health and extend their
lives. And this belief is considered to be founded on suf-
ficient authority in the literal meaning of the text in
Proverbs iii. 18, which refers to Wisdom, or the knowledge
of the Divine Law-'She is a Tree of Life to them that lay
hold upon her; and happy is everyone that holdeth her up'
- Etz Chayim—a Tree of Lives).
In the present instance these rollers are of substantial and
very white ivory, about 10 inches in length, and covered with
carved ornaments on all the visible parts. The handles arə
nearly 2 inches long, and the four broad disks above them,
intended for the support and protection of the Rolls, are of
about the same measure in diameter, and they are fluted
and ornamented on their exterior surfaces. At the top of
each roller is carved a large imperial crown, expressive of
כֶּתֶר הַתּוֹרַת ,the name for this part of the cylinders
Cether Hatorath, or 'the Crown of the Law.** In some of
the more costly Rolls which have been presented to the
principal synagogues by wealthy persons, these ornaments
are made of silver-gilt, in the form of crowns, pomegranates,
or trees hung with small bells. Picart has engraved a very
fine example of a large Roll, with all its proper coverings
and ornaments, in which the peculiarities and decorations
referred to in these notices may all be recognised. It pro-
bably belonged to the great synagogue at Amsterdam.
(Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses, i. p. 139.)
It has been already stated that in transcribing a
copy of the Law, there should not be any word of
it written from memory only, or without being first
pronounced by the writer. The same principle of
precision is observed also in the reading of the Law and
other sacred books, and an instrument is appointed to be
* Buxtorf says that the two round pieces of wood to which the
volume of the Law is attached, and on which it is wound, as used by
the Jews in their Synagogues, are called a (Bimah), be-
cause they are elevated, and stand up high above the roll; for which
he cites the Aruch and the Gemara. The crowns of the Law would
therefore strictly be the ornaments mounted on the tops of these
rollers. Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum, et Rabbinicum. Basil.
1630. fol. col. 316.
THE LAST SONG OF MOSES.
Addition to page 7. Roll, Membr. 51, Columns 46, 47.
AND MOSES SPAKE IN THE EARS OF ALL THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL, THE WORDS OF THIS SONG,
1 Give ear, O ye Heavens, and I will speak :
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
As the small rain upon the tender herb,
3 Because I will call upon the Name of THE LORD:
He is The Rock. His work is perfect;
A God of Truth, and without iniquity,
UNTIL THEY WERE COMPLETED.
5 They have corrupted themselves: their spot is not the spot of His
children :
• Do ye thus requite THE LORD ?
6
Is not He thy Father that hath gotten thee?
7 Remember the days of old;
Ask thy Father, and he will show thee,
8 When The Most High divided to the nations their inheritance :
He set the bounds of The People
9
For the Portion of THE LORD is His People,
0
He found him in a desert land,
He compassed him about, and instructed him.
in As an eagle stirreth up her nest,-
Spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them,—
12 SO THE LORD ALONE did lead him ;
13 He made him to ride on the high places of the earth,
And He made him to suck honey out of the rock,
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep,
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape,
Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with
fatness!
And lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation.
With abominations provoked they Him to anger.
To gods whom they knew not,
Whom your Fathers worshipped not.
And hast forgotten God that formed thee.
Because of the provoking of His sons and of His daughters.
I will see what their end shall be :
Children in whom is no faith.
They have provoked Me to anger with their vanities:-
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
And shall burn unto the lowest hell,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will spend mine arrows upon them;
And with bitter destruction;
With the poison of serpents of the dust:
And terror within,
•
The suckling also, with the man of grey hairs.
I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men.
Lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely,
And The Lord hath not done all this.'
Neither is there any understanding in them.
That they would consider their latter end.
And Two put Ten Thousand to flight,
» For their Rock is not as our Rock,
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons,
34 Is not this laid up in store with Me?
35 To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense,
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
36 For THE LORD shall judge His people,
When He seeth that their power is gone,
37 And He shall say "Where are their gods?
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,
Let them rise up and help you,
39 See now, THAT I, EVEN I, AM HE!
I kill, and I make alive;
Neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand.
And say-I LIVE FOR EVER.
And Mine hand take hold on judgment,
And will reward them that hate Me.
And My sword shall devour flesh,
From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.”
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
AND WILL BE MERCIFUL UNTO HIS LAND.
And hear, O Earth, the words of my mouth.
My speech shall flow as the dew,
And as the showers upon the grass.
Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
For all His ways are judgment.
Just and Right is He.
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
O foolish people and unwise !
Hath not He made thee, and established thee !
Consider the years of many generations:
Thy Elders, and they will tell thee.
When He separated the Sons of Adam,
According to the number of The Children of Israel.
Jacob is the Lot of His Inheritance.
And in the desolate howling wilderness :
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
Fluttereth over her young,—
Beareth them on her wings,-
And there was no strange god with him.
That he might eat the produce of the fields :
And oil out of the flinty rock.
With fat of lambs,
With the fat of kidneys of wheat;
15 But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked!
Then he forsook God which made him,
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods,
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God :
To new gods that came newly up,
18 of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful,
19 And when THE LORD saw it, He abhorred them,
20 And He said, "I will hide my face from them,
For they are a very froward generation,
21 They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God;
And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a
people,
:
22 For a fire is kindled in Mine anger,
And shall consume the earth with her increase.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them;
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat;
1
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them.
25
The sword without,
Shall destroy both the young man and the virgin.
26 I said I would scatter them into corners,
27
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy,
And lest they should say 'Our hand is high,
28 For they are a nation void of counsel,
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this,
30 How should One chase a Thousand,
Except their Rock had sold them, and THE LORD had shut them up.
Even our enemies themselves being judges.
And of the fields of Gomorrah :
Their clusters are bitter.
And the cruel venom of asps.
And sealed up among My treasures?
Their foot shall slide in due time :
.
And the things that shall come upon them make haste.'
And repent. Himself for His-Servants,
And there is none shut up or left :
Their Rock, in which they trusted?
And drank the wine of their drink offerings;
And be your protection.
And there is no God with Me :
I wound, and I heal;
40 For I lift up My hand to Heaven,
41
If I whet My glittering sword,
I will render vengeance to Mine enemies,
42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,
And that with the blood of the slain and of the captives,
Rejoice, O ye Nations, with His People :
And will render vengeance to His adversaries.
AND TO HIS PEOPLE.
8
used for regulating the reader, called the Tyod, or hand,
which is to be placed on every word of the Roll as it is ut-
tered. This pointer is usually made of carved ivory, and
consists of a stem terminating in the form of a hand,
having three fingers folded down, and one extended,
pointing to the word on which it is laid. The Yod be-
longing to the present Roll is of this description, being of
ivory ornamented with carving, 2 inches in length, termi-
nating at the lower end in a ring, to be put on over the fore-
finger of the reader, and at the other extremity in a short
arm and hand with one finger extended. The pointer
attached to the most valuable Rolls is frequently made of
silver gilt, and the index-finger is ornamented with a gold
ring containing a diamond.
At some distance from the place where the right hand
and left hand Rolls meet in a volume of the Law, there is
extended over the outside of it a piece of ornamented or
figured silk, which Buxtorf says was commonly worked by
some of the most skilful females of the synagogue; who
also frequently embroidered the mantle in which the Roll
was enclosed, these being regarded as pious and meritorious
works. In putting on this covering the piece of silk is first
to be completely extended, the opened Roll as it has been
read is laid upon it, and when the book is to be shut, the
two ends of the silk are to be turned over each of the Rolls,
which are then wound up and brought together, carrying
the silk covering along with them. When, therefore, the
book is closed both the outside and inside of it are covered
for some distance from the place of opening. The original
intention of this wrapper was evidently to preserve the
manuscript from dust or soil, both when it was closed and
when it lay open to be read; but it seems also to represent
the covering in which a complete copy of the Law was folded
up, which Lightfoot, on Rabbinical authority, calls "The
Cloth of the Quintanes" (note vi.). In plainer language, this
was "the wrapper of the five books;" but the same passage
also indicates that asimilar covering, having a distinguishing
name, was used for folding up all the other Rolls of the
Holy Scriptures. A passage in the Mishna ( Meguillah iii.
1), which is given at length on another page, shews that
these wrappers were of linen, and called
p
Mitpachath, a cloak. The wrapper belonging to this Roll
is 53 inches deep, and nearly 6 feet in length, but it is put
on doubled. It is of plain crimson silk, with one edge
of it hemmed and the other of the natural selvage.
For securing the volume thus made up, there is a Band also
of crimson silk, 4 feet 2 inches long, and 2 inches broad, one
end of which is formed into two ties. It is simply called
Kesher, a band or tie; and it is to be wound round
the lower part of the volume, over both the Rolls, until
the two ends are reached, which are then divided and tied
in the usual way.
Kesher, a קֶשֶׁר
It is quite possible that when the equipments, which
are all still proper to a Roll of the Law, were originally
appointed, that there were some sacred, as well as appro-
priate meanings intended by them which do not now appear
to be remembered, though most of the names have been pre-
served. The outside covering of a Roll was anciently a
cloth of fine linen, and in later times an embroidered
canopy made like a tent, perforated in the roof with two
openings for the upper ends of the rollers to pass through;
to which Buxtorf gives the name of Mappa, or the
Mantle. Under these canopies the sacred books are still
preserved in the Arks of the respective synagogues, and
they are also carried beneath them in procession round the
building on the Feast of the Law. The Mantle belonging
to this volume is of China gold and silver brocade, with
coloured flowers; it is edged with a fringe of yellow silk;
and it measures 9 inches in height and 5½ inches across at
the widest part at the bottom.
Long before Moses had written the books of the Cere.
monial Law, a sacred depository had been made, in which
was first placed the Decalogue, as it existed from the time
when it was originally given and recorded on the tables of
stone. At length, when all "the commandments, the
statutes, and the judgments," had been received, and de-
clared to the Tribes of Israel, Moses wrote the words of the
Law in a Book, until they were finished; and gave the precious
record to the Levites, directing them to put it in the side, or by
the side, of the Ark (note vii.) of the Covenant of the
Lord their God, that it might be there for a witness against
them (Deut. xxxi. 26). This Ark was made of shittim, or
acacia, wood, in the form of an oblong chest or case, as the
word (Aron) really implies: "Two cubits and a half
shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the
breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof."
In modern English measurement this would be a box three
feet nine inches by two feet three inches, and two feet three
inches in depth; and its form and dimensions may readily
be recognised in the feretories and portable shrines of the
middle ages, which were also carried about by staves
passing through rings placed at the sides. It may be
further observed that these reliquaries were frequently
covered with gold plates decorated with jewels, the origin
of which may be referred to the command, "thou shalt over-
lay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay
it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about."
(Exod xxv. 10-15.) It seems probable that the Ark was
removed when Manasseh "set a carved image, the idol which
he had made, in the House of God" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7);
and that, when it was replaced by Josiah (chap. xxxv. 3),
the Book of the Law then discovered might possibly have
been found preserved within it, even 820 years after the
time when it was originally deposited beside it. But all
the recorded information concerning that discovery is, that
the volume was found in the house of the Lord by Hilkiah,
the priest, when "they brought out the money that was
brought into the house of the Lord" (chap. xxxiv. 14);
and this was contained in the perforated treasure chest
provided by Jehoida the priest, 250 years before. It stood
'beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the
house of the Lord" (2 Kings, xii. 9); and perhaps the book
might have been secured in this treasury by some pious
priest, where it remained safe, though forgotten, during the
half century which intervened between the reigns of Ma-
nasseh and Josiah.
ג
About thirty years after the latter period, the greater
part of the nation was carried away captive to Babylon :
but before that event the copies of the Law and
other sacred books appear to have been consider-
ably increased; no doubt by the efforts of Josiah and
Hilkiah to transcribe and preserve them. It is certain that
Daniel and others of the Hebrew captives possessed some
of those books; and the pious patriotism of Ezra seems to
have led him to devote himself to the studying and copying
of the Law, and also to engage in the same duties those
other devout priests and Levites who are named in his
history. In the last ages of the Second Temple, therefore,
there must have been many volumes preserved there and
employed in the daily services, but it is very doubtful
whether that building contained an ark in which they
might be deposited. It is not unlikely that the sacred rolls
were kept, each being wrapped up in its own proper linen
cloth, in some such circular cases as those used by the
Romans for their volumes, called capsæ and scrinii, which
would allow of their separation into their proper subjects.
These cases, or the several rolls, must also have been care-
fully preserved in some safe and appropriate place, possibly
in the priests' ward or the treasury; but it is remarkable
that in all the particular account which Lightfoot gives of
the different apartments, of the Temple from Rabbinical
authors, he does not indicate any place as being assigned to
the sacred books.
In all the modern synagogues of the Jews there
is a large recess formed at the extremity, the pavement
of which is slightly elevated, and in the lower part
is a spacious cabinet or bookcase, enclosed with solid
doors, wherein are placed the Rolls, each being wrapped
up, tied, and covered with its own embroidered mantle.*
This part of the recess is properly called "The Ark," and
before it is suspended an embroidered curtain, of velvet or
* Bruzen De la Martinière, apparently citing Buxtorf, calls this
depository Hechal, without giving the Hebrew. The word no doubt is
(Hechal), the Temple, or the Sanctuary of the Temple ; and
also the Tabernacle, before the Temple was built. Cérémon. Relig.
i. p. 125.
•
9
naha
other rich material, representing the (Parocheth)
or “Veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted
linen of curious work with cherubims" (Exod. xxvi. 31).
Whenever the camp set forward, Aaron and his sons came
and took down the covering veil, and with it covered the
Ark of the Testimony, over which they placed another
wrapper of badgers' skins, and then a blue cloth (Numbers
iv. 5, 6). In all the representations of this part of a syna-
gogue engraved by Picart in the early part of the last cen-
tury, the Arks appear like plain, close, lofty bookcases or
wardrobes; and the cabinet made to contain the present
Roll is of a precisely similar description. It is of mahogany
and in the external measurement it is one foot two inches
in height from the feet to the top of the surmounting orna-
ment, seven inches wide and four inches deep. It is en-
closed with locked folding doors; and immediately beneath
the ornamental top is a stout brass wire, on which hangs a
veil or curtain 11½ inches in length, made of Chinese silver
brocade like the material of the mantle within, bordered
with a fringe of yellow silk. When the case is to be opened
this veil should be drawn aside to the right hand. The in-
terior measurement of the case is as nearly as possible in
the proportion of one-fourth of the dimensions appointed for
the Ark, being 103 inches in height, 6½ inches wide, and 43
inches deep."
In concluding these notices of a Hebrew Roll of the Law,
it may be observed that there is a very curious illustration
of the value of such a book contained in that treatise of the
Mishna called Meguillah, chap. iii., sect. 1. The principal
subject of that interesting tract relates to the times and
manner of reading "the Roll of the Book of Esther" at the
feast of Purim ; but a considerable part of it is occupied
with incidental matters, referring to the regulations of
synagogues and public readings of the Law. The rule in
disposing of ecclesiastical property is, that the money re-
ceived for it must be applied to the purchase of something
having a higher degree of sanctity than the article which
has been sold. "The inhabitants of a town," says the Me-
guillah, "who have sold the open square of the town, may
for that money buy a synagogue. The money obtained by
the sale of a synagogue, they may apply to the purchase of
an Ark (for receiving the Rolls of the Holy Law). For the
money obtained by the sale of such an Ark, mantles or
wrappers for the Rolls of the Holy Law may be purchased.
For the produce of such wrappers, sacred books (not of the
Law) may be bought. For the price of sacred books a Roll
of the Holy Law may be procured; but, if a Roll of the
Holy Law have been sold, it will not be lawful to employ
that money even for the purchase of other sacred books."
10
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
I.
All Copies of the Law must be transcribed from ancient Manu-
scripts of approved character only.
""
The Sieur de Simonville, who was one of the authors of
the text illustrative of Picart's fine engravings of the reli-
gious ceremonies of the Jews, notices the order that syna-
gogue copies of the Law are to be transcribed from the
autograph taken by Ezra from the original written by Moses
and preserved at Cairo; which, he says, "is a pure fable.'
-(Cérémon. Relig. i. 4, Note C.) But without at all attri-
buting any manuscript to his hand, it is quite possible that
there may be some still extant which are of his time. It is
evident that he employed both himself and those pious
priests and Levites who are named in his interesting history,
and also in that by Nehemiah, in copying and preserving
those portions of the Law and the Prophets which had been
transcribed under Josiah and Hilkiah, some of which it is
certain were carried into Babylon at the captivity. The
view which Dean Prideaux has taken of this multiplication
and preservation of the Holy Scriptures, is so sagacious and
interesting that it is impossible to omit extracting it in his
own words, as an important illustration of the subject of the
present note.
"In the time of Josiah, through the impiety of the two
preceding reigns of Manasseh and Ammon, the Book of the
Law was so destroyed and lost, that beside that copy of it
which Hilkiah found in the temple there was none other to
be had. For the surprise which Hilkiah is said to be in at
the finding of it, and the grief which Josiah expressed at
hearing it read, do plainly shew that neither of them had
ever seen it before. And if the king and the high priest,
who were both men of eminent piety, were without this
part of Holy Scripture, it can scarcely be thought that any
one else then had it. But so religious a prince as King
Josiah could not leave this want long unremedied. By his
order copies were forthwith written out from this original,
and search being made for all the parts of Holy Scripture,—
in the colleges of the Prophets, and in all other places
where they might be found,—care was taken for transcripts
to be made out of these also; and thenceforth copies of the
whole became multiplied among the people; all those who
were desirous of knowing the Law of their God either
writing them out for themselves or procuring others to do it
for them. So that though within a few years after the Holy
City and Temple were destroyed, and the authentic copy of
the Law which was laid up before the Lord was burnt and
consumed with them: yet by this time many copies both of
the Law and the Prophets, and all the other sacred
writings, were got into private hands, who carried them
with them into their captivity.
"That Daniel had a copy of the Holy Scriptures with
him in Babylon it's certain, for he quotes the Law, and also
makes mention of the Prophecies of the Prophet Jeremiah
(Dan, ix. 2, 11, 13), which he could not do if he had never
seen them. And in the sixth chapter of Ezra it is said,
that on the finishing of the Temple, in the sixth year of
Darius, the priests and Levites were settled in their re-
spective functions, according as it is written in the law of
Moses; but how could they do this according to the written
Law, if they had not copies of that Law then among them?
And this was nearly sixty years before Ezra came to Jeru-
salem. And farther, in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah,
when the people called for the Law of Moses, to have it
read to them, they did not pray Ezra to get it anew dic-
tated unto him, but that he should bring forth the Book of
the Law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to
Israel; which plainly shows that the book was then well
known to have been extant."-Connection of the History of
the Old and New Testament, 1720. Part I., Book v., p. 260.
By the time of the destruction of the Second Temple the
whole number of the sacred Rolls preserved there, and
throughout all the provincial synagogues, must have been
very considerable. Dr. Kennicott, on the authority of
Wolfius and of a certain Jew, named Moses Pereyra, states
that about eighty of the Jews, who had escaped from Titus,
travelled through Persia to the coast of Malabar; where
Pereyra found some manuscript copies of the Hebrew text.
There are, however, very few really ancient exemplars
known to be extant; and Dr. Kennicott supposed that
almost all the Hebrew manuscripts of his time were
written between the years 1000 and 1147. He concludes
with Bishop Walton, that those which were written before
A.D. 700 or 800 were destroyed by some order of the Jewish
Senate, on account of their many variations from the copies
then considered to be genuine. The learned Jews who
}
came into Europe in the beginning of the eleventh cen-
tury, brought with them transcripts from authentic manu-
scripts, some of which were pointed; and in the two fol-
lowing centuries other copies were made with greater care
than was exercised in succeeding ages. In making those
copies the transcribers followed certain exemplars, eight in
number, which were highly esteemed for their accuracy, as
the standard texts. They are now lost, but extracts from
them are still preserved; and from Jewish writings and the
margins of some manuscripts, it is ascertained that they
were highly prized for their singular accuracy. They were
known by the names of "The Codez of Hillel ;" The Codez
of Ben Asher," called also "The Palestine, Jerusalem or
Egyptian Codez ;" "The Codez of Ben Naphtali," or The
Babylonian Codez;" "The Codez of Jericho;" The C‹dez of
Sinai ;" and "The Book Taggin."
II.
<<
Parchment prepared by a Jew from the Skin of a clean
Animal.
The skins which might be employed for this purpose, were
those of the calf, the sheep, the kid, and the goat; and the
oldest Hebrew Rolls which are now known to exist are
supposed to be those written on leather made of goat-skins
dyed red. In the year 1806, Dr. Claudius Buchanan dis-
covered such a Roll of the Pentateuch, 48 feet in length, in
the record chest of a synagogue of black Jews in the interior
of Malayala. This he bought, and it is now deposited in the
public library of the University of Cambridge. The Cabul
Jews, who travel annually into the interior of China, report
that in some synagogues there, also, the Law is to be found
written on soft flexible leather made of the same material.
It is a very remarkable circumstance, and one which never
could have been imagined without indisputable proof, that
any community of Jews should be permitted to dispose of
the Sacred Books belonging to their synagogue; but it has
been shown, on a previous page, that the Mishna evidently
recognizes the act as lawful, and only directs the purposes
for which the proceeds are to be employed.
III.
Every Membrane must contain a certain Number of Columns
of prescribed Dimensions, each consisting of a certain
Number of Lines and Words.
It is considered that in the best Hebrew Rolls the columns
should not exceed in breadth half their length; and these
columns must all be of the same dimensions, and contain
the same number of lines, quite filled up with complete
words. In consequence of this accuracy and the beauty of
the penmanship, the synagogue copies of the Law have
always been very much admired. The Père Richard Simon,
from whose works was compiled the Second Dissertation
prefixed to the engravings of Picart, says of these Rolls, "I
should not have found anything to detract from the exact
precision which characterises the small pages or columns of
those volumes which are intended for synagogues, if it were
not to be attributed to superstition; instead of which it is
evident that the dimensions were really appointed to render
these Rolls more proportionate and beautiful."-Cérémon.
Relig., i. p. 54.)
After the short 'notices which have been already given of
11
the rigid rules to be observed in transcribing the Law, it
would not be supposed that the examiners of a copy would
allow of three mistakes on one skin, or four in the whole
volume. but if the Song of the Deliverance at the Red Sea,
or that uttered by Moses at the time of his death, were to be
written close instead of being displayed as poetry, the error
would vitiate the manuscript. In the Talmud are contained
all the established regulations relating to the materials of a
Roll; the ink, the pen, the letters, the divisions, and all the
other peculiarities which are required to be closely adhered
to, especially in the transcription of the Pentateuch. They
are likewise to be found translated from the Hebrew, in Dr.,
James George Christian Adler's work, entitled Judæorum
Codices Sacri Ritè Scribendi Leges, ad recte æstimandos
Codices Manuscriptos antiquos per veteres,” published at Ham-
burg in 1779.
66
Although the plain square Hebrew character, without
points, is that which is directed to be always used for the
writing of Rolls of the Law, yet even in those copied out for
synagogues, it is still recognised as having some varieties.
One of them is called the Tam letter, which is known by its
sharp corners and perpendicular coronulæ, and it is used by
the German and Polish Jews; and the other, which is
rounder and more modern, is employed by the Jews of Spain
and Portugal, and is called Velshe. The peculiar angularity
of the letters in the Roll described in the previous pages, no
doubt indicates that it is written in the Tam character,
though most probably in Holland.
IV.
nin??
The Columns are numbered for every Book separately.
The leaves mentioned in the authorised English transla-
tion of the Prophecy of Jeremiah, xxxvi. 23, and the
pagella" of the Vulgate version, are really the columns of
a Hebrew Roll. The original word is
Delathoth,
or doors; because the pages of books are like doors or gates
in admitting to the sense, as this passage is explained by the
Rabbi Elias. These columns likewise appear to be referred
to by St. Luke, iv. 17, where he relates that Jesus Christ
went into the synagogue at Nazareth "on the Sabbath Day,
and stood up for to read-and there was delivered unto Him
the Book of the Prophet Esaias. And when He had opened
the book, He found the place where it is written," etc. Dr.
Lightfoot considers that the Roll was given to Him by "the
minister of the church who kept the Sacred Books in his cus-
tody, and brought them out to be read when they met together
in the synagogue. The words, therefore, of our Evangelist,
Αναπτύξας τὸ βιβλίον, to me seem not barely to mean
that He unfolded or opened the book, but that
being opened He unrolled it from folio to folio, until
He had found the place which He designed to read
and expound." Works, 1684. ii. p. 407, 403, Hebrew and
Talmudical Exercitations.) In reading the Law in the
synagogue, it was not permissible for the reader to unroll
from one passage to another, but this might be done with
the books of the Prophets and, therefore, though Christ
might not have taken the section appointed for the par-
ticular day, He did not violate any established order, not to
speak of the power of His divine authority.
It is doubtful, however, as Dean Alford observes,
"whether the Rabbinical cycle of Sabbath readings or
lessons from the Law and the Prophets were yet in use; but
12
some regular plan was adopted, and according to that plan
after the reading of the Law, which always preceded the
portion from the Prophets came to be read (see Acts, xiii. 15),
which, for that Sabbath, fell in the Prophet Isaiah. The
Roll containing that book, probably that alone, was given to
the Lord, but it does not appear that He read any part of the
lesson for the day; but when He had unrolled the scroll.
'found'-the fortuitous, id est the providential, finding, is the
most likely interpretation,-not the searching for, and
finding the passage which follows. No inference can be
drawn as to the time of the year from this narrative; partly
on account of the uncertainty above-mentioned, and partly
because it is not quite clear whether the Roll contained only
Isaiah, or other books also." The Greek Testament, vol. i.
1854, p. 431, Note 17).
In this sense of simply opening and finding, the Greek word
is used more than once by Euripides: but that the passage in
question really was the Scripture for the day, appears to be
almost proved by the very nature of a Hebrew Roll, and the
custom which is still observed in the synagogues with regard
to the Book of the Law. In closing the volume, the person
whose peculiar duty it is to shut it and to fold it up, should
bring the two rolls together, at the place where the reader
left off on one day, and was to commence on the next for
which arrangement the Hebrew double rolls were adapted
beyond any other form of book ever known. The conclusion,
therefore, seems to be almost unavoidable, that when Christ
opened the book, He naturally found or discovered the pro-
phecy which follows. In His divine knowledge of all things,
He went up to the synagogue of Nazareth designedly on the
day when that especial Scripture ought to be read ; and,
like His apostle Philip, when discoursing from the same
Prophet, He began "at the same Scripture, and preached
unto them Jesus."
66
מְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר
It may, however, be objected, in reply to this conjecture,
that even the Synagogue rolls, containing the writings of the
Prophets, were not double, like those of The Law, and there-
fore were probably not folded up in the same manner; but this
is a question involving a matter of ancient practice, which
cannot now be answered. Almost the only positive informa-
tion extant on the subject is contained in the Prophecies of
Jeremiah and Habakkuk. In chapters xxxii. 2, xxxvi. 2, 32,
of the former Prophet, he is directed to take a Roll of a
Book ;" and the original compound word
signifies no more than the single volume expressed by the
English translation ; but this might be rolled together from
both ends, and so be opened at the place referred to by St.
Luke. In the modern synagogues the rolls are of The Law
only, the other Sacred Books being square manuscripts; but
it will be evident, from the preceding part of this note, that
there cannot be any question that the Scripture given to
Jesus Christ in the Synagogue at Nazareth was really a roll,
whether it were single or double.
V.
When these Offices become vacant, the privilege of performing
them is offered to public Auction in the Synagogue by one of
the Clerks.
Buxtorf's account of these sales is so remarkably curious
and characteristic, and is probably so little known in the
original form, that a translation of the whole passage is here
inserted from the author's very rare work Synagoga Judaica.
Basil, 1661, 8vo. c. xxvii. p. 543.
"Because the Reading of the Law is finished on this day
-the 23rd of Tishri, which occurs towards the end of September
—it is called THE REJOICING OF THE LAW: and those funds
which arise out of the sale of the honour and privilege of
reading the Law, and which are purely ecclesiastical and
especially belonging to the synagogue, are then forthwith to
be replenished. These offices are also publicly sold in the
synagogue, in the manner of an auction; and they are dis-
posed of to such persons as will give the most for them after
three special proclamations have been previously made for
each.
"The first privilege which is announced by the warden or
clerk, is that of lighting certain lamps in the synagogue for
the whole year. Next follows the duty of supplying the
wine which is consecrated and distributed on the Sabbath
and other feast days; and it is accordingly submitted for
valuation. But all the fathers of families ought as a duty
to offer 'the Sabbath wine' as a gift to the poor Jews who
have not any; since it is an established obligation, and is
decreed to all such as delight in and honour the Sabbath to
consecrate and to distribute one cup of wine to their house-
holds. They give the wine even to children, but this act is
avoided by some of the more pious Jews.
"Thirdly is proclaimed, 'What is to be the price of the
office which is called? namely, Gelilath, or the
Right of Covering, that is the duty of unbinding and tying
up again the Books of the Law. Fourthly is demanded,
'Who will be ? or the Gabhah; whose office
is to take the Book of the Law when it is laid open,
and to hold it upright on high, turning and shewing it to all
around, that every one may see the writing. The buyer of
this duty ought to be a strong and stout person, who can
hold the book, even when it is a large one, opened and
stretched out with his arms extended to shew it to the con
gregation for if it should fall to the ground, or his foot
should stumble, it would be required that the whole syna-
gog le should fast to expiate such an unhappy omen.
“Fifthly it is asked, 'Who will buy ny
?'
meaning Etz chayim, or the Trees of Life: which is the
privilege of turning round those two wooden rollers, to
which are attached the skins whereon the Law is written;
taking hold of them, and of the linen covers belonging to
them, and rolling them out, and also of afterwards rolling
them up again. This privilege is commonly sold to some of
the younger persons of the synagogue, for they suppose that
their holding up of these two pieces of wood will be fol-
lowed by their becoming wiser and better: and they hope
also to procure by them a long life, because they are called
"n-yy Etz chayim, or the Wood of Lives: for it is
written in Proverbs iii., ‘She is a Tree of Life to all that lay
hold upon her.' Whilst the book is closed and tied up, it is
held by the wooden handles only; and if it were to be touched
by the naked hand the offender would commit a great
crime, which would require a very solemn expiation.
עץ חיים
(6
Sixthly is proclaimed, 'Who is willing to give the price
of ?' or Acharon; which is the privilege of being
called up to perform the Reading of the Book of the Law
at Festivals; and this also is sold to the last bidder out of
the whole assembly. Seventhly is cried, "Who desireth in
וּ שְׁחִייָה
his heart to become nyj ? or Shechejah? which is
the honour of being considered sufficient to execute the
office of any one of the other officers who might neglect his
duty, or not carefully perform it. The money which is
raised by these sales is employed for the repairs of the
synagogue, and the benefit of the poor belonging to it."
Buxtorf proceeds to state that much hostility, envy, and
quarrelling, were excited by the equality and competition
of all ranks at these sales. He says also, that the most holy
name of God was very often profanely invoked; that the
poor were set before the wealthy, the young preferred to the
old, and righteous persons disregarded for the worthless;
and that such other disorders occurred as required to be
brought before the Christian magistrate.
13
and the Hagiographa; but they do not fold up the
Prophets and the Hagiographa in the Cloth of the Quin-
tanes, nor the (separate) Quintanes in the Cloth of the
(whole) Law. They lay the (entire) Lawn by,
Al Chomishon upon the (separate) Quintanes, and the Quin-
tanes upon the Prophets and the Hagiographa; but not the
Prophets and Hagiographa upon the Quintanes, nor the
(separate) Quintanes upon the (whole) Law; that is, not
any one single Quintane, upon all the Quintanes made up
into one volume. A QUINTANE is a book of the Law, in
which there is but one Quintane.
""
L
VI.
"The Cloth of the Quintanes."
1
The whole passage, as it appears in Dr. Lightfoot's He-
brew and Talmudical Exercitations on the Evangelist St. Luke,
iv. 17, Works, 1684, II. p. 407, is so remarkably interesting
and curious, that the whole of it is inserted in this note.
חמשה,namely
66 All do know what title the Books of the Law do bear in
the front of our Hebrew Bibles, namely, Wan
HI WA, Chomishah Chomishi Thorah — The
five Quintanes (or Fifths) of the Law; Genesis is
17, Chomish Rishon, the First Quintane (or Fifth);
Exodus is WA, Chomish Shine, the Second
Quintane.
"They fold up the Book of the Law in the Cloth of the
Quintanes, and the Quintanes in the Cloth of the Prophets
VII.
In the side, or by the side of the Ark.
It seems to have been Dr. Kennicott who first observed
that the words in Deuteronomy xxxi. 26, ing dhbW!
אתו
וְשַׁמְתֶּם
-translated in the authorised English ver מְצַד אֲרוֹן
sion, "put it in the side of the ark," really signified by
the side of it! that is, that the original book might always
be ready, as an indisputable authority on any occasion of
high importance without the ark being touched. Even
within the vail, the passage to the ark and the mercy-seat
was restricted and closed up by the staves by which the ark
was carried, between which the high priest entered once in
the year, only on the day of expiation. But by the Book of
the Law being placed by the side of the ark without, it might
be taken up and returned by the high priest passing his
hand only behind the curtain, without his committing the
violation of entering the sanctuary.
"(
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