Lost & found: Early commentary on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah on display in Jerusalem
Now housed at the National Library, 15th-cent. Mezukak Shivatayim extensively quotes Jewish sages whose works are unknown to scholars, opening the way to recover thinkers’ lost wisdom
Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter.
A unique manuscript featuring a previously lost 15th-century commentary of Maimonides’s monumental work Mishneh Torah is on display for the first time at the National Library of Israel (NLI) in Jerusalem and available online, the library announced on Monday.
The work, described in Hebrew as Mezukak Shivatayim (Distilled Sevenfold), extensively quotes Jewish sages whose names and works are unknown to modern rabbis and scholars, opening the way to recover thinkers’ lost wisdom. The commentary also offers a unique glimpse into the life of one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in the late Middle Ages: the Jews of Provence, part of modern-day France.
“We are talking about a monumental, encyclopedic book blending Jewish law, philosophy, and theology, comprised of 418 large pages,” Dr. Chaim Neria, curator of the NLI Judaica Collection, told The Times of Israel in a phone interview. “Usually, the same work was copied multiple times; therefore, we can rely on several copies of the same book passed down through the centuries. In this case, however, the manuscript is the only copy that has reached us.”
The Mishneh Torah, or “Repetition of the Torah,” is considered the most influential work by Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides or Rambam (1135-1204), a rabbi, philosopher, and physician who lived in medieval Spain and is considered one of most outstanding Torah scholars of all times.
His works were extensively studied and discussed in Provence, which, in the late Middle Ages, was home to a vibrant intellectual Jewish community.
“At the time, Provence represented the bridge between Spain and what we call Ashkenaz,” Neria said, referring to the area of modern-day Germany. Contemporary Ashkenazi Jews are considered to be originally from that region.
Written in Hebrew, Mezukak Shivatayim includes a commentary on seven out of the 14 books of Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah. It was authored by Rabbi Yosef Kimchi around 1380 (while the copy probably dates back to shortly after his death).
The Kimchi family was a prominent lineage of Torah scholars. One of its members was Rabbi David Kimchi, also known by his Hebrew acronym Radak (1160 – 1235 CE), who is best known for his commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.
“From other sources who mention him, we know that Yosef Kimchi was also a highly respected scholar,” Neria noted.
The library acquired the manuscript from a private collection in June.
“The work includes references not only to other Torah commentaries but also to Aristotle, Talmudic sources, and more,” he added. “We can say it distills the concept of Torah uMada, or Torah and knowledge, in the most eloquent way.”
For example, Kimchi addressed the topic of tefillah, or prayer, not just as a question of Jewish law but also from a philosophical perspective.
“Kimchi asks delicate and complex questions, such as what prayer is and how we can ask the divine to do what we believe is right, in a very forceful and serious way,” Neria said. “It is possible that Mezukak Shivatayim did not become more popular because it was too forward, and people chose not to copy it.”
In his introduction, Kimchi mentioned the challenge of book scarcity at a time when the printing press had not yet been invented and manuscripts were costly. He refers to the problem of people “being jealous” of their books and unwilling to share them with others.
“Maybe this is why he quoted so many other rabbis so extensively,” Neria said. “So that people could learn all of them just from his work.”
Some of the commentaries in the Mezukak Shivatayim had been lost for centuries. The manuscript could, therefore, allow both Torah scholars and academics to retrieve a trove of Jewish sources.
At the end of the 15th century, a series of anti-Jewish riots deeply impacted Jewish life in Provence, with most Jews killed or forced to flee. Those who stayed were expelled or forced to convert in 1501. The Provencal Jewish community, with its specific identity and intellectual life, came to an end, causing the loss of vast Jewish knowledge.
According to Neria, the manuscript of Mezukak Shivatayim could allow the Jewish people to reclaim at least part of it.
“Now that the book is accessible to the public, my dream is for scholars to study it properly, transcribe it, and translate it, and that it can become part of our body of knowledge,” Neria said.
“Our mission at the National Library is to give voice to the Jewish communities and traditions that have disappeared from our collective memory,” he added. “Mezukak Shivatayim is one of the best examples of this effort.”
The Mezukak Shivatayim is on display to the public as part of a new exhibition of 15 rare new acquisitions for the Library: “Spotlight On The Collections.” The exhibition will be open until June.
