Illuminated Manuscript – Machzor for High Holidays, Apam Version – Presumably, Asti, Italy, 1732

Illuminated Manuscript – Machzor for High Holidays, Apam Version – Presumably, Asti, Italy, 1732

Machzor in large format. Presumably, intended for the synagogue cantor. Italian script; square Hebrew script, (partly vocalized), and semi-cursive Hebrew script. Corrections and glosses inserted throughout the book, in cursive Italian script. Title page illuminated in architectonic style, inspired by copper engravings made for title pages of printed books; inside the architectonic frame, the Hebrew liturgical poem "Adon Olam" is jotted down in handwriting. Initials, decorative text openings, and titles with letters adorned with "tagim", and with crowns, flowers, and frames. Some of the instructions are inscribed inside cartouches adorned with ceremonial crowns. Large, colorful carnations appear at the end of the piyyut "HaYom Te’amtzeinu".
Colophon on final page, inscribed in Hebrew: "And thus all the work was completed on this day, Tuesday, 6 Nisan, [1732].
On the blank sheets at the end of the machzor there are Hebrew notations relating to family matters in Italian script, written by two writers: a note by Yehonatan Shlomo Hartom, dated 5516 (1755-1756), regarding the birth of his son Avraham Eliezer; and another note by Shlomo Moshe Yonah, dated to the month of Kislev, 5576 (late 1815), mentioning the passing of his father.

Tradition of the Apam Jewish Communities
"Apam" is a Hebrew acronym for the Italian "comune" (township) of Asti, the town of Fossano, and the village of Moncalvo – three small Jewish communities who together practiced what was known as "Minhag Apam". All three communities were established by Jewish exiles from France who settled in the Piemonte Region of Italy after being expelled from France in the 14th century. Once in Italy, most Jewish émigrés from France adopted the customs and traditions of the communities that absorbed them, and only the ones who settled in these three places insisted on clinging stubbornly to the French traditions they arrived with, thus preserving a very old version of French-Jewish prayer. The French version of prayer ("Nusach Tzarfat") is somewhat similar to "Nusach Ashkenaz", but differs from it both in its own particular versions of some of the prayers, and in the distinctive piyyutim that are peculiar to this tradition alone. Prayer books associated with the "Minhag Apam" tradition were never put into print or published by any printing press; thus, they survive only in manuscript form.
With regard to "Minhag Apam", most of the available academic literature is in Hebrew. For references to this literature, see Hebrew description.

The machzor presented here preserves the piyyutim and the particular version of prayer unique to "Minhag Apam" and the small Jewish communities it represents. These unique elements include a little-known version of "Kol Nidre"; the "Eten Tehilla La-El" introduction to Yom Kippur’s "Seder Ha-Avodah", and more. The following intriguing note appears (in Hebrew) on page 4: "And it is a praiseworthy practice of the people of Tzarfat that on Rosh HaShanah, prior to "LeDavid BeShanoto etc. [Psalms 36], they read ‘Mizmor yud-zayin’ [Psalms 17]…".

[244] pages, 40.5 cm. Wide margins. Thick, high-quality paper. Good condition. Stains, some with browning. Several leaves with remnants of mold or other fungus, restored. New binding (from early 1980s; rebound by the Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Basel).

Exhibition: Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1018.
Provenance:
1. Peter Castle (1922-2011). Purchased by Henry Levy (1887-1980), stepfather of Peter Charles Castle, in London, prior to WWII.
2. Heirs of the above.