Difference between revisions of "Pigs in the Tripartite Mahzor"

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''Zodiac sign of Crab for month Tamuz. [http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms384/ms384-coll1.htm Tripartite Mahzor vol.1], Germany, Lake Constance, ca.1320; Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kaufmann Collection, MS Kaufmann A384, fol.143a''
 
''Zodiac sign of Crab for month Tamuz. [http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms384/ms384-coll1.htm Tripartite Mahzor vol.1], Germany, Lake Constance, ca.1320; Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kaufmann Collection, MS Kaufmann A384, fol.143a''
Hybrid with a body of a roar, legs of a frog, and a fish as its tail.
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The Tripartite Mahzor is a fourteenth-century [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews Ashkenazi]] prayerbook divided into three parts.  The first part is preserved in Budapest, in the [[http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/index-en.html Kaufmann collection]] of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MS A384). It contains prayers and piyyuts for the special Shabbats,  Purim, Pesah (Passover), and the Song of Songs. The second part (London, British Library Add. Ms. 22413) contains prayers and piyyuts for Shavuot, the Book of Ruth, Sukkot and the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the third volume (Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Michael 619) there are prayers and piyyuts for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. While the size of the codices is different, the size of the text areas and the style of the illuminations are the same.  Therefore, the three volumes probably originally constituted a one- or two-volume codex, which began with Rosh ha-Shanah and ended with Shavuot.  It may have been cut and divided into three parts some time later. None of the volumes has a colophon. The only name given is that of the scribe. He was a certain Hayyim. His name is written at the end of the commentary to Ruth (“חיים חזק”, vol.2, fol. 80v), and this word is decorated in the text in another page of the same volume (fol.103v). A certain scribe Hayyim (חיים סופר) also copied the so-called Schocken Bible (Southern Germany, c.1300; Jerusalem, Schocken Library, Ms.14840), and two close stylistic relatives of the Tripartite Mahzor: the Pentateuch of the Duke of Sussex (Southern Germany; London, British Library, Add. Ms 15282)  and the Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Lake Constance Region, probably Konstanz, ca.1310; Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. Heb. 75).
 
The Tripartite Mahzor is a fourteenth-century [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews Ashkenazi]] prayerbook divided into three parts.  The first part is preserved in Budapest, in the [[http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/index-en.html Kaufmann collection]] of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MS A384). It contains prayers and piyyuts for the special Shabbats,  Purim, Pesah (Passover), and the Song of Songs. The second part (London, British Library Add. Ms. 22413) contains prayers and piyyuts for Shavuot, the Book of Ruth, Sukkot and the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the third volume (Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Michael 619) there are prayers and piyyuts for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. While the size of the codices is different, the size of the text areas and the style of the illuminations are the same.  Therefore, the three volumes probably originally constituted a one- or two-volume codex, which began with Rosh ha-Shanah and ended with Shavuot.  It may have been cut and divided into three parts some time later. None of the volumes has a colophon. The only name given is that of the scribe. He was a certain Hayyim. His name is written at the end of the commentary to Ruth (“חיים חזק”, vol.2, fol. 80v), and this word is decorated in the text in another page of the same volume (fol.103v). A certain scribe Hayyim (חיים סופר) also copied the so-called Schocken Bible (Southern Germany, c.1300; Jerusalem, Schocken Library, Ms.14840), and two close stylistic relatives of the Tripartite Mahzor: the Pentateuch of the Duke of Sussex (Southern Germany; London, British Library, Add. Ms 15282)  and the Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Lake Constance Region, probably Konstanz, ca.1310; Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. Heb. 75).
  
In the first volume, the prayer for dew is decorated with zodiac signs and the labors of the months (fols.142r-145v). This image depicts the Crab (סרטן)together with the labor of month [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar Tammuz]]. The crab is portrayed here as a strange hybrid created from the limbs different animals:  
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In the first volume, the prayer for dew is decorated with zodiac signs and the labors of the months (fols.142r-145v). This image depicts the Crab (סרטן)together with the labor of month [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar Tammuz]]. The crab is portrayed here as a strange hybrid created from the limbs different animals: its body is that of a roar, its legs  are those of a frog, and its tail is a fish.
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== External links ==
 
== External links ==

Revision as of 14:23, 26 January 2009

TripartiteMahzor vol1 143r.jpg


Zodiac sign of Crab for month Tamuz. Tripartite Mahzor vol.1, Germany, Lake Constance, ca.1320; Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kaufmann Collection, MS Kaufmann A384, fol.143a


The Tripartite Mahzor is a fourteenth-century [Ashkenazi] prayerbook divided into three parts. The first part is preserved in Budapest, in the [Kaufmann collection] of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MS A384). It contains prayers and piyyuts for the special Shabbats, Purim, Pesah (Passover), and the Song of Songs. The second part (London, British Library Add. Ms. 22413) contains prayers and piyyuts for Shavuot, the Book of Ruth, Sukkot and the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the third volume (Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Michael 619) there are prayers and piyyuts for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. While the size of the codices is different, the size of the text areas and the style of the illuminations are the same. Therefore, the three volumes probably originally constituted a one- or two-volume codex, which began with Rosh ha-Shanah and ended with Shavuot. It may have been cut and divided into three parts some time later. None of the volumes has a colophon. The only name given is that of the scribe. He was a certain Hayyim. His name is written at the end of the commentary to Ruth (“חיים חזק”, vol.2, fol. 80v), and this word is decorated in the text in another page of the same volume (fol.103v). A certain scribe Hayyim (חיים סופר) also copied the so-called Schocken Bible (Southern Germany, c.1300; Jerusalem, Schocken Library, Ms.14840), and two close stylistic relatives of the Tripartite Mahzor: the Pentateuch of the Duke of Sussex (Southern Germany; London, British Library, Add. Ms 15282) and the Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Lake Constance Region, probably Konstanz, ca.1310; Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. Heb. 75).

In the first volume, the prayer for dew is decorated with zodiac signs and the labors of the months (fols.142r-145v). This image depicts the Crab (סרטן)together with the labor of month [Tammuz]. The crab is portrayed here as a strange hybrid created from the limbs different animals: its body is that of a roar, its legs are those of a frog, and its tail is a fish.


External links

http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms384/ms384-143r.htm


contributor: Zsofia Buda mphbuz01@phd.ceu.hu Central European University