Manuscript, Yom Kippur machzor – piyyutim for Shacharit, Musaf and Neilah, including piyyutim recited according to the rite of the Crimean Peninsula (the Kaffa rite) – a particularly important anthology, including piyyutim unknown from any other source, as well as piyyutim that were heretofore known only from the Cairo Genizah. [Crimean Peninsula, ca. 14th century].

Oriental square script (partially vocalized), sometimes incorporating semi-cursive script. Enlarged initial words, some decorated. Catchwords of leaves and gatherings on some pages. The present handwriting has distinctive Oriental features, as well as several distinctive features of Byzantine script. The paper is similar in thickness and processing to Oriental paper, but is in fact European paper, with a watermark resembling Briquet nos. 706-708 – appearing on paper manufactured in Western Europe in the 14th century. The paleographical and codicological features match several contemporary Byzantine manuscripts, including one written in Kaffa (Crimea), National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Ms. EVR I 23.

Piyyutim machzor, without the main prayer text. Most of the piyyutim in the present volume are for Shacharit of Yom Kippur, while the others are for the Musaf and Neilah prayers. The part with Shacharit piyyutim is unbroken, while the part with Musaf and Neilah piyyutim is lacking many leaves. At the top of the first page: "Maamad for [Yom] Kippur".

The volume begins with a unique piyyut sequence, based on the Avot blessing of the Amidah, which is recited before the Kedushta piyyutim. This type of piyyut system is known only from the Kaffa rite of Crimea (on the Kaffa rite, see references below). This is followed by a Reshut and Kedushta for Shacharit by R. Shlomo Suleiman al-Sinjari, which are also found in the Kaffa rite machzor (the end of the Reshut is attested only in one Kaffa rite machzor dating to the 17th century – see Eden Hacohen, cited below, p. 49; the present machzor is another, far earlier witness). Later in the volume appear piyyut sequences of the aforementioned type for the Avot blessings of Musaf and Neilah (these sequences are incomplete in the present manuscript).

The importance of the present anthology lies primarily in that it is the unique source for many early piyyutim, some of which were heretofore known only from the Cairo Genizah, while others are not known from any other source.

The Kedushta piyyutim in the present machzor include many piyyutim by R. Elazar HaKalir and others, which were heretofore known only from fragments in the Cairo Genizah. The piyyutim of R. Elazar HaKalir were recently published in a critical edition by Prof. Shulamit Elizur ("R. Elazar BeRabbi Kalir – Piyyutim LeYom HaKippurim", Jerusalem 2021), but the present manuscript contains many variant texts. In one case, a piyyut that survived only in part in the Cairo Genizah appears here in full (pp. 36a-b, UvaAretz Ihel Shechinato, the second half of which survived in the Genizah fragment JTS Ms. ENA 2676.51).

This machzor is particularly important as a source for many piyyutim that are known from no other source, and are not recorded in the Ezra Fleischer Genizah Research Project for Hebrew Poetry. For example, pp. 22b-23b contain an unknown piyyut, "Maaseh Elo-heinu – Elo-him Bara Shamayim VaAretz", belonging to the widespread genre contrasting the works of G-d with those of man.

A detailed list of piyyutim in the anthology is available upon request.

The present anthology is highly important for the study of early piyyut, and perhaps also for the study of the development of the Kaffa rite. The manuscript still requires intensive study, and should be made accessible to researchers for the benefit of the public.

On the last leaf appears (in semi-cursive script) a blessing text for mourners, apparently an unknown version: "Blessed are You… Who understand every creature… Resuscitator of the dead. May You soon have mercy on Your people and comfort the heart of mourners… Comforter of Zion and the heart of mourners. And may everyone who does kindness to another be recompensed… Who pay goodly reward to doers of kindness. May You withhold Your anger… Who stops pestilence, sword, destruction and plague from us…". This is followed by several blessing texts for various occasions.

[56] leaves (lacking many leaves in Musaf and Neilah part). 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Many stains. Open tears (some large) and much wear, mainly to margins, affecting text. Significant dampness damage to all leaves, mainly to margins. Many words erased or faded due to dampness damage, mainly in first line of each page and edges of lines in outer margins. Worming. Leaves professionally restored. New leather binding.

References: Simon Bernstein, "The Kaffa-Rite Machzor – History and Development" (Hebrew), in: Samuel K. Mirsky Jubilee Volume, New York 1958, pp. 451 ff.; Eden Hacohen, "On the Question of Diffusion of the Kedushtaot of R. Shlomo Suleiman al-Sinjari", in: Essays in Memory of Menachem Zulay, Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature, XXI [2007], pp. 47 ff. (Hebrew; on the piyyut sequence for Avot, unique to the Kaffa rite, see there, p. 58).

We thank Prof. Shulamit Elizur for her assistance in researching the piyyutim, and Ms. Tamar Leiter for her assistance in researching paleographic and codicological facets.