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Vatican Hebrew MS. 133 (Vat. ebr. 133), popularly known as the Rome Ms., is a handwritten manuscript of a portion of the Jerusalem Talmud, copied in the late 13th or early 14th centuries, containing only Seder Zerai'm (excluding Tractate Bikkurim), but also including Tractate Sotah, from Seder Nashim. It is a composite work combined into one volume, copied by six different copyists and written in old-style, square Ashkenazi Hebrew script. Sections of the original manuscript were partially destroyed, requiring its owners to replace the damaged or missing parts at different time periods. Today, the manuscript is preserved at the Vatican Library in Rome. A facsimile edition of the manuscript has been published, and is known under the name 'Jerusalem Talmud - Vatican Manuscript' (תלמוד ירושלמי: כתב יד וטיקן‎). In common Hebrew inscriptions, it is often called the 'Rome manuscript' (כ"י רומי‎). Vatican Hebrew Ms. 133 contains approximately a quarter of the entire Jerusalem Talmud. It is written on parchment, each sheet containing two columns.

Importance of manuscript

The manuscript offers scholars only limited value, as it is generally believed to contain many copyist errors. For example, the manuscript containing Seder Zera'im, from which the scribe copied the Rome Ms., was defective in that it had missing pages in several places and the scribe copied the pages that were in front of him consecutively, unaware of the deficiencies. Most errors, however, are the result of the copyists mistaking one Hebrew character for another Hebrew character, the most common of which being the grapheme י‎ (yod) being confounded with ו‎ (waw), and the grapheme ב‎ (bet) being confounded with כ‎ (kaph), and the grapheme ד‎ (dalet) being confounded with ר‎ (resh).

Some variant readings in the Vatican Hebrew Ms. 133 are still to be considered insightful, as perhaps offering a more correct reading of the Jerusalem Talmud at the time of its compilation. In 1909, Ginzberg published the variant readings found in the Vatican Hebrew Ms. 133.

Scholars have pointed out that Vatican Hebrew Ms. 133 was one of three primary texts used by Jehiel ben Jekuthiel Anav, the copyist of the Jerusalem Talmud (Leiden Ms.).

Selected variants

In Vat. ebr. 133, the spelling of place names, as rendered, has in each case a ה‎-suffix, instead of an א‎-suffix, which spelling follows the more traditional way of transcribing Aramaic words in Roman-era Palestine. The copyist of the Leiden Ms., on the other hand, has sought conformity with the Babylonian Talmud, and has changed the original script. Vat. ebr. 133 is correct in calling hyacinths bulbosīn, which in the Leiden Ms. was corrupted to read as kulkosīn.

A simple comparison of the above place names with those names transcribed in the parallel text of Mosaic of Rehob clearly points to the accuracy of Vat. ebr. 133 and Leiden Ms. with respect to the name ראש מייה‎ (= Rosh Mayya), believed to be Ras al-Ain, Lebanon, whereas in the Venice printed edition of the Jerusalem Talmud the version is ראש מנא‎ (= Rosh Manna). The transcription for חנותה תחתייה‎ (= the Lower Ḥanūtha), based on the Mosaic of Rehob, points to the accuracy of the Venice printed edition and Leiden Ms., in as far as Ḥanūtha is written with the voiceless pharyngeal fricative of ḥêt (ח‎), rather than with a he (ה‎). The copyist of the Vat. ebr. 133 confounded ḥêt with he. However, with respect to the place name בית בדיה / בית כריא‎, both the Vat. ebr. 133 manuscript and the Leiden Ms. differ from the Mosaic of Rehob which writes in their place ביברה‎ (= Bibra), and thought to have been situated where is now the ruin Khurbet Bobriyeh.

References

1. ^ Mayer 2018, p. 320
2. Mayer 2018, p. 279
3. Richler 2008, p. 95
4. ^ Melammed 1980–1981, p. 107
5. Mayer 2018, p. 280 (note 9)
6. Ginzberg 1974, pp. 347–372
7. Richler 2008, p. 95
8. Jerusalem Talmud 2010, p. 16b (s.v. שינויי נוסחאות)‎ harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJerusalem_Talmud2010 (help)
9. Jerusalem Talmud 2010, p. 17b (s.v. שינויי נוסחאות)‎ harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJerusalem_Talmud2010 (help)
10. Frankel 1979

Notes

1. Talmud Yerushalmi: ketav yad Ṿaṭiḳan (1970), Makor:Jerusalem (OCLC 23876507)
2. A sample of some of the missing extracts are as follows: 1) Shevi'it, ch. 3, beginning with מתניתא‎ until את הרבי‎; 2) Orlah, chs. 2–3, beginning with א"ר יונה‎ until בכל מקום‎; 3) Ma'aser Sheni, ch. 5, beginning with ר' אחא‎ until כתיב אלה שני'‎; 4) Ḥallah, ch. 1, beginning with רשב"ל‎ until רשב"ל אמ'‎; 5) Terumah, end of ch. 1, beginning with לפי שמנן‎ until דההיא‎.

Bibliography

• Frankel, Raphael (1979). "'Bibra' — A Forbidden Village in the Territory of Tyre". Israel Exploration Journal. 29 (3/4): 194–196.
• Ginzberg, Louis, ed. (1974). Yerushalmi Fragments from the Genizah (in Hebrew). Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Makor Ltd. OCLC 233346011. (reprinted from 1909 Jewish Theological Seminary of America edition)
• Mayer, Yakov Z. (2018). "From Material History to Historical Context: The Vatican Ebr. 133 Manuscript of the Palestinian Talmud". Zion (in Hebrew). 83 (3): 277–321.
• Melammed, Ezra Zion (1980–1981). Ephraim E. Urbach (ed.). "Proofreading in the Jerusalem Talmud Leiden MS. based on the Rome MS". Tarbiz. 50 (1): 107–127. ISSN 0334-3650.
• Richler, Benjamin, ed. (2008). Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library (Catalogue). Jerusalem: Jewish National and University Library in affiliation with Biblioteca apostolica Vaticano. pp. 95-96 (s.v. Vat. ebr. 133). ISBN 9788821008238. OCLC 231656334.

Further reading

• Melammed, Ezra Z. (1981). "MS Vatican as the Source for the Marginal Glosses in the Leiden Manuscript of Talmud Yerushalm". Tarbiẕ. 50. Mandel Institute for Jewish Studies: 107–127. JSTOR 23595580.
• Lieberman, S. (1929). Concerning the Jerusalem Talmud (על הירושלמי/ א. לתיקון נוסח הירושלמי, ב. נוסחאות כת"י רומא למס סוטה עם פתיחות, הערות והשואות (PDF) (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Darom Publishers.

External links

• Manuscript - Vat.ebr.133 (Late 13th–early 14th century), Vatican Library. (Tractate Sotah, in folios 1r–21r; Tractate Berakhot, in folios 22r–50v; Tractate Peah, in folios 50v–66r; Tractate Demai, in folios 66r–80r; Tractate Kila'yim, in folios 80r–94v; Tractate Shevi'it, in folios 94v–107v; Tractate Terumot, in folios 107v–125v; Tractate Ma'aserot, in folios 126r–135r; Tractate Ma'aser Sheni, in folios 135r–144v; Tractate Ḥallah, in folios 144v–148v; Tractate Orlah, in folios 148v–151v.)

• Hebrew-language literature
• Manuscripts of the Vatican Library
• Jewish medieval literature
• Jewish manuscripts
• 13th-century books
• 14th-century books
• Talmud
• Hebrew manuscripts