Or 17101

Hakham Ezra Reuben Dangoor’s (HED’s) digest of various plain-sense commentaries on the Book of Numbers. These works were written by scholars of various orientations, including some affiliated with the religious Haskalah. Presumably, this digest served HED in preparing his own plain-sense commentary on the Pentateuch, the final version of which he entitled ‘Adi zahav / עדי זהב. Nevertheless, this digest may have been intended as a work in its own right, too.

Or 17101 (1): Remaining pages of HED’s digest of plain-sense commentaries on the Book of Numbers. HED numbered these pages, although not all of them – certainly not the last three – were bound in a single notebook. [1] HED’s first leaf, with his pages 1-2, is missing; but it must have contained the first half of what is on his pages 3-4 = folio 1: extracts from Ḥomat anakh / חומת אנך, by the author of She’erit Yehuda / שארית יהודה, this folio covering Numbers 14:30 – end. [2] Folios 2 – mid 5r = HED’s pages 5 – mid 11 (the first visible page number written by HED is the remnant of his 8, top right of folio 3v): synopsis of Samuel David Luzzatto’s (ShaDaL’s) commentary Ha-Mishtadel / המשתדל (Vienna, 1847) on Numbers. [3] Folios mid 5r – mid 7r = HED’s pages mid 11 – mid 15: synopsis of the commentary Botser ‘olelot / קיצור מביאור בוצר עוללות on Numbers. [4] Folio 7, mid recto and verso = HED’s pages 15-16: beginning of material from Naphtali Herz Homberg’s commentary Ha-Korem / הכורם (Prague, 1817), ‘not available on Pericope Be-Midbar (or: Ba-Midbar) / במדבר - alas for what is lost!’. HED’s leaf containing pages 17-18, with the balance of Ha-Korem / הכורם on Numbers, is lost. Folio 8 = HED’s pages 19-20 contains the beginning of Ha-Korem’s / הכורם’s commentary on the haftarot, the prophetic readings that follow the weekly Torah readings. HED’s leaf with his pages 21-22, with the balance of Ha-Korem / הכורם on the haftarot and the beginning of extracts from another work, unidentified, is missing. [5] Folios 9 – mid 10v = HED’s pages 23 – mid 26 contain extracts from the above-mentioned unidentified work. [6] Folios mid 10v – 11 = HED’s pages mid 26 – 28: comments on localised passages or topics, including some on the Book of Ruth, which is read at the time of year when Numbers is read. These comments are taken from a variety of sources, including: HED (indicated by עש”יר = Ezra Sassoon Reuben); Malbim; Tsohar la-teva in Mikhse ha-teva / צהר לתיבה במכסה התיבה; and Bikkure ha-‘ittim / בכורי העתים (year 5589 Anno Mundi).

Or 17101 (2): Fragment of comments on Numbers chapters 10 – 24, source unidentified. This may have been part of the compilation discussed in the previous item, MS Or 17101 (1).

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