Florence (Italy), Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana: Plut.44.18
Grand Venetian Parchment
About the Ilan
TextGrid URI of the Editiontextgrid:3vszh
Surfaces of the Ilan
Recto
About the Facsimile
ContributorsBiblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (https://tecabml.contentdm.oclc.org/iiif/info/plutei/1454127/manifest.json)
About the Manuscript
Identifiers and Titles
IdentifierFlorence (Italy), Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana: Plut.44.18
Primary Manuscript TitlesGrand Venetian Parchment
היריעה הוונציאנית המופלאה
Alternative Manuscript TitlesFlorence, BML, Ms. Plut.44.18
1
NLI ID990001482890205171
Manuscript History
Origin
CreatorElijah Menaḥem Ḥalfan 🔎︎Search for Ilanot by this Creator
Abraham Ṣarfati 🔎︎Search for Ilanot by this Creator
ContributorsElijah Menaḥem Ḥalfan (Adapter, Author of afterword, colophon, etc., Creator, Editor of compilation, Scribe)
Abraham Ṣarfati (Adapter, Author of afterword, colophon, etc., Editor of compilation)
Date Information1533
Creation PlacesVenice (Italy)
Provenance
OwnerBiblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (current owner) 🔎︎Search for Ilanot by this Owner
Provenance PlacesFlorence (Italy)
Physical Description
MaterialParchment 🛈Translucent or opaque material made from calf, sheep, or goat skin which has been limed, dehaired, scraped, and dried under tension to produce a thin, strong material for writing, bookbinding, or other uses. For finer quality calf parchment, use "vellum." The terms parchment and vellum sometimes have been and still are both confused and used interchangeably. 🔎︎Search for Ilanot with this Material
FormSheet 🛈A leaf is a single sheet of paper or parchment, recto and verso, making two pages of a book; the basic bibliographical unit of a book. 🔎︎Search for Ilanot with this Form
Support Descriptionsix parchment sections
LayoutMost content on recto; verso contains additional diagram visualization of "side" of evil and the colophons.
Sheets per Surfacesix parchment sections
Dimensions Description122 × 94
Hand DescriptionItalian
Languages Used
Main LanguageRabbinic Hebrew 🛈https://ilanot.org/voc/languages/he-x-rabbinic 🔎︎Search for Ilanot with this Language
Content Description
SummaryCreated in 1533, this imposing, squarish ilan is a unique collaboration between Elijah Menaḥem Ḥalfan and Abraham Ṣarfati, who acted as its designers, editors, and anthologists. Constructed from six parchment sheets sewn together like a patchwork quilt, the ilan functions as a map that achieves an unprecedented realization of its cartographic potential. It incorporates a Small Parchment core into a 15,000-word anthology featuring texts from Gikatilla and the Circle of the Special Cherub. A defining innovation is the use of the verso to represent the Sitra Aḥra (the evil "Other Side"), carefully aligned with the lower, diminutive sefirotic tree on the recto. The parchment includes precise locative editorial glosses and a disclaimer by Ḥalfan cautioning against corporeality. The verso also features personal testimonies by the creators that flank the demonic tree its related texts.
Colophon"והיתה השלמתו יום ב' כב ימים לחדש אדר ראשון שנת חמשת אלפים מאתים ותשעים ושלש ... פה ויניציאה ... נאם ... אליה מנחם תלמיד חלפן יזיי"א בן ... כמהר"ר אבא מרי חלפן זלה"ה".
Further Information
Research LiteratureAntonio Maria Biscioni, ed., Bibliothecae Ebraicae Graecae Florentinae sive Bibliothecae Mediceo-Laurentianae, vol. 2 (Florentiae, 1757).
Giulio Busi and Silvana Greco, eds., Il Rinascimento parla ebraico (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019), exhibition catalogue (Ferrara, 2019).
J. H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022), 51–59.
Yosef Kaplan, ed., The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5, The Early Modern Era, 1500–1750 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017).
Fabrizio Lelli, “L’albero sefirotico di Eliyyà Menaḥem ben Abba Mari Halfan (Ms. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 44.18),” Rinascimento 48 (2008): 271–290.
Fabrizio Lelli, “Ricezione e interpretazione della Cabbalà nel pensiero di Eliyyà Menaḥem Halfan,” Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 47, no. 3 (2011): 547–572.
Aldo Rossi, Da Dante a Leonardo: Un percorso di originali, Biblioteche e archivi 4 (Florence: Edizioni del Galluzzo; SISMEL, 1999).
Isaiah Sonne, “I dati biografici contenuti negli scritti di Shelomoh Molkho riesaminati alla luce di un nuovo documento,” Annuario di studi storici 1 (1934): 183–204.
Giulio Busi and Silvana Greco, eds., Il Rinascimento parla ebraico (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019), exhibition catalogue (Ferrara, 2019).
J. H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022), 51–59.
Yosef Kaplan, ed., The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5, The Early Modern Era, 1500–1750 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017).
Fabrizio Lelli, “L’albero sefirotico di Eliyyà Menaḥem ben Abba Mari Halfan (Ms. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 44.18),” Rinascimento 48 (2008): 271–290.
Fabrizio Lelli, “Ricezione e interpretazione della Cabbalà nel pensiero di Eliyyà Menaḥem Halfan,” Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 47, no. 3 (2011): 547–572.
Aldo Rossi, Da Dante a Leonardo: Un percorso di originali, Biblioteche e archivi 4 (Florence: Edizioni del Galluzzo; SISMEL, 1999).
Isaiah Sonne, “I dati biografici contenuti negli scritti di Shelomoh Molkho riesaminati alla luce di un nuovo documento,” Annuario di studi storici 1 (1934): 183–204.
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