It has been a busy year for Judaica acquisitions at the Columbia RBML. Three important acquisitions have been added to our collection:
- A collection of forty Italian Broadsides depicting regulations on various communities (including Ferrara, Padua, Ancona, and others), only one of which is in the extensive Valmadonna collection of broadsides. We plan to digitize this collection to add to the already significant corpus provided by Valmadonna. Regulations include prohibitions on throwing candy, talking in the synagogue and shouting, as well as financial matters such as taxes.
- A late 18th century manuscript describing the history of the Jewish community of Prague from the perspective of the author, Yosef Yitshak Ha-kohen Poppers. Particularly interesting from a visual perspective is the addition of a printed engraving pasted on to the title page.
- Our most recent acquisition is a 15th century Sefer Refu’os, in Yiddish (with Italian words for herbs, and, citing at least one Ladino incantation), of remedies and cures for all sorts of things, including teeth whitening, various remedies for wounds, an incantation for revelation of one’s destined wife, and many more. This manuscript is unique in both content and language, and we invite scholars to work on it! The manuscript is in the process of being digitized, and will be made available online after digitization.
Absolutely fascinating! This eclectic mix of acquisitions promises a captivating journey through Prague’s rich history, the intriguing world of 15th-century Yiddish medicine, and the allure of Italian broadsides. Can’t wait to delve into these diverse treasures!
Thank you for sharing this! The new acquisitions, especially the 15th c. Yiddish Sefer Refu’os and Italian broadsides, are incredibly rich sources. I’m particularly intrigued by the convergence of medicinal practice, vernacular language, and visual culture. Could you say more about how the herbs and incantations reflect interaction between Jewish, Italian, and Ladino traditions?
The Sefer Refues is in Yiddish, not Ladino, but the fact that there are Italian words in it shows that the writers were engaged within an Italian-speaking (rather than German-speaking, which one might expect with Yiddish) culture. There is plenty of research still to be done with this manuscript – I certainly hope that scholars will continue to take interest in it!