161 Abraham Gross GERONA: A SEPHARDIC CRADLE OF ...

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Danièle Iancu-Agou - A.VI.80, chez Struch Avinay: un «cassovim e una micra que son den Bonestruch des Mestre que tench penyor» = Hagiographes et Lectures bibliques. - A.VI.81, chez Struch Avinay: un «cassovim e un ammas que tench penyor den Caravida Vidal» = Hagiographes et Pentateuque. - A.IX.124, chez Mosse Falco: «unas salios les quals tench penyore den Vidal Mosse» = Prières pénitentielles. - A.IX.125, chez Mosse Falco: «un maczor que tench penyor den Vidal Mosse» = Rituel. - A.X.166, chez Mair Belshom: «unas obres que tench penyor den Bonestruch Juceff» = Quelles oeuvres? - A.X.167, chez Mair Belshom: «altre libre appellat ommas e cassovim que tench en penyor dels mani messors den Jisim Roven» = Pentateuque et Hagiographes. - B.I.226, chez Nasim Ferer: «un llibre de micra en penyora de la muller den Salomo Saporta» = Lectures bibliques; S. Saporta fut un membre conseiller permanent du Call de Gérone. - B.IV. 280, chez Vidal Lobel: «item altre pirus de tarar que feu en Salomon Struch» = Commentaire des douze Prophètes Mineurs (comme chez Gersonide). - B.V. 309, chez Ambram Jacob: «item altre de Farer» = Rituel (comme n° 308: maazor) de Nissim Ferrer. - B.V.313, chez Ambram Jacob: «item ne tench de mestre Barnat Baro’» = Quelle oeuvre? Qui est maître Baro’? Les huit premiers cas sont des gages (penyor). Danièle Iancu-Agou CNRS, Centre d’Etudes des Religions du Livre (Paris) 4 rue de la Combe, 34830 Clapiers – France e-mail: iancu@alor.univ-montp3.fr SUMMARY Thanks to Millas’ and Battle’s articles (1928), to Perarnau’s note (1985) on the inventories of books from Gerona, we now possess precious documentary material: a part of the range of manuscripts that were available to the Jews of Gerona following the fateful Disputation of Tortosa (1414-1415). The other part, as a consequence of the Disputation, had already been discovered. Out of sixty-seven inventories actually produced with known owners – the spiritual leaders of the community, Call’s permanent advisers, and sometimes their spouses – nineteen lists are made quite explicit with the detail of the works. As a result, they allow us to examine 361 volumes and compare them to books circulating at that time in other geographic areas (such as Catalonia, Roussillon, Provençia, etc.). KEY WORDS: Books inventories, Gerona, Disputation of Tortosa. 182
Ezra Chwat IDENTIFYING AN ALFASI GLOSS-SUPPLEMENT ON ROSH HA-SHANAH, POSSIBLY <strong>OF</strong> YOM TOV ASEVILLI IN A FRAGMENT FOUND IN <strong>GERONA</strong> 1 On the folder in which the fragments are kept there is written in catalan: «Fulls extrets de les cobertes d’un protocol de Girona del sigle XIV». Among the recent Gerona findings, we find a typical Sephardic hand, 19 lines per page, whose subject is the Talmudic tractate of Rosh ha- Shanah (Fig. 1). These fragments have recently been found in Gerona Historical Archive by Mauro Perani and they are identified by the numbers 1-8. They were re-used in the 14 th century in order to make the cardboards of a notarial register of Gerona 1 . When reconstructed and folded into it’s original structure, these fragments which belong to the same manuscript, constitute remnants of 8 bifolia (16 folios, 32 pages). Four of the folios, including the first 3 are mostly missing, presumably cut by the blade of the bookbinder. Only a word or less per line, from the edge of the page, is extant. Two other folios are cut width wise in the center of the page, so about half of the written text remains. The remaining ten folios are preserved in relatively good condition, missing no more than a line of written text per page. This is not a complete section, as a few lacunae of a page are found in a few places. The content is clearly not a talmudic commentary, rather a text that fits into the category of Gloss-supplements on the halakhic Code of Isaac Alfasi. Alfasi gloss-supplements are often mistaken for Talmud commentaries, because of the very nature of the Alfasi text which is their subject, having been formed largely out of the Talmudic text, in it’s original langue and in its original order. The gloss segments in these texts are thusly mere redactions of classic Talmud Glosses, primarily Rashi, or alternatively Jonathan of Lunel, Isaac Crakusha of Narbonne, Barukh the Babylonian or, in the Orient, the more ancient Hananel of Kairouan, all depending on the vicinity and aptitude of the composer. Yet we have developed obvious and clearly defined criteria which indicate whether the subject of a gloss is the Talmud itself, or Alfasi’s Talmud compendium, determinants which can be applied even to the most minute text fragments. Notice at the top of the first full folio, immediately preceding a talmudic phrase found in Bavli, Rosh ha-Shanah 10b is the end of a sentence explaining a passage found not in Rosh ha-Shanah but in Yevamot 83a. This passage is imported into Alfasi’s composition precisely in the same sequence. It is therefore not surprising to find that the same sentence appears in a different Alfasi gloss-supplement, that of Nissim Gerondi (Ran). The very following sentence indicates that the composer presumes that Talmud text is not available to the user, as he feels obligated to inform us of the proof text which appears in the Talmud, but is unavailable to one who is reading Hilkhot Alfasi. Thus the inference referring to the Talmud as a foreign source, one that is not the subject of this composition. Having scanned all of the talmudic phrases that the composer relates to, we find none that do not appear in Alfasi’s compendium. We do find glosses on terms from extra-talmudic comments added in Alfasi. The author of this work is unidentified, as no colophon is available, yet a direct clue is found on pg. 11, where he refers to Shelomoh ben Aderet (Rashba) as . This places him in Aragon at the end of the 13 th century. This profile suits perfectly the index of named and unnamed sources used in the composition of this text. The author is clearly from the Geronese school founded by Nahmanides, who is the source most often quoted here. On p. 4 there is a citation of the Provencal sage Asher ben Meshullam, a source that is unknown to the other Geronese sources here, like Shelomoh ibn Aderet and Nissim Gerondi. Yet we should not be mislead by this to deduce that the author has native, first hand traditions of Provence. This passage is clearly a redaction of an article in the Alfasi gloss-supplement of Isaac of Narbonne. This native of Provence was well versed in the local rabbinic traditions before attending 183
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Page 7 and 8: Danièle Iancu-Agou LES LIVRES INVE
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161 Abraham Gross GERONA: A SEPHARDIC CRADLE OF ...

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