Selichoth, Signed (1 results)

8vo; Hebrew manuscript on vellum, in square Ashkenazi script; modern marbled half-calf, spine with raised bands and blind-tooled ornaments; one half-page colour illustration; 10 ll pp. A unique Selichoth manuscript on vellum 'Belonging to the heroes of the Chevra Kadisha on the holy community of Schottland'. A rare relic from a 19th-century Jewish community in northern Poland. During the time when Jews were banned from settling in the city of Danzig (Gdansk), they lived in the small towns of Schottland, Weinberg and Langfur, which together formed the 'Shul' community, (an abbreviation of these towns' names in Hebrew). Two important figures served as Rabbis of this small community: Rabbi Meir Posner (author of 'Beit Meir'), a phenomenal Torah scholar who was in contact with Rabbi Akiva Eiger and the Chatam Sofer, as well as Rabbi Elchanan Ashkenazi (author of 'Sidrei Taharah'), a student of Rabbi Ya'akov Popresh and Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Charif. The fasting day of K"A Kislev for which the Selichoth were written is not marked by the Ashkenazi Jewish communities of our times and very little is known about it. The little information in existence relates to the city of Prague, where the Jews used to observe this day of fasting to commemorate the many Jews who were tragically killed in 1744 by the Austrians (presumably around the time when Empress Maria Theresa, signed an edict ordering the expulsion of all Jews). This might also explain the only colour illustration in the manuscript which depicts the tomb of the Maharal of Prague. It is presumed that this fasting day was also observed by other Jewish communities in Poland.