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DOI Artikel:Budzioch, Dagmara; Tomal, Maciej: The manuskript of the Moreh Nevuchim from the collection of the National Museum in Krakow
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31060#0157
The manuscript ofMoreh Neruchim from the collection ofthe National Museum in Kraków 155
Ezracha,9 however, is not testified elsewhere, to our best knowledge. One could guess that
beyond the spelling nniTN is concealed the name n[’]mT with prosthetic N, which would
be pronounced as ezrachya or simply zerachya analogous to two variants of TYIT and niTN.
Another possibility is that the spelling nmTN is an erroneous one or a corrupted form of
nnrv [azraya], Ali in all, the extensive (although not completely reliable) lexicon of Naf-
tali Yaaqov ha-Cohen does not know a rabbi bearing the name nmTN while it does know
some rabbis with the name iTTHT [Zerachya] from Spain, according to the surname Cata-
lano, of Catalonia, but no one fits an approximate time span of the events and places testi-
fied in the colophon.10 The first one is rabbi Zerachya ha-Levi from Toledo, which is in
Castile and not Catalonia. Two names - Yicchaą and Zerachya-appear regularly in Spain-
Provenęal family of halachic scholars with the most famous among them Zerachya ben
Yicchaą ha-Levi, who lived in the 12th century, an author of several influential works such
as Sefer ha-Maor. But some degree of coincidence with our scribe seems accidental. On
the other hand, according to the same source there are still rabbis named Zerachya from
Barcelona - Zerachya ben Sheshet, 13th/14th century and - morę famous - Zerachya ben
Shaltiel ben Yicchaą, among Biblical exegetes of the 14th century. What is conspicuous,
almost all sages bearing the name Zerachya enumerated in the Ha-Cohens lexicon come
from Spain.* 11 We may conclude that there is no decisive indication that the scribe Yicchaą
reveałs some family links with the above mentioned Catalonian/Castilian sages, however
the repetitions of the names combinations Zerachya and Yicchaą are especially freąuent
in that time in Spain.
On the other hand, the name of Perugian Citizen Nathanael ben Avraham is well testi-
fied. Nathanael ben Avraham ben Nathanael was a well-known bank owner or money-
lender in Perugia of that time. In the Latin documents of the city of Perugia he appears as
Deodato son of Abramo (di Abramo) son of Deodato.12 There are some references to him
there starting from 1390. His name appears mostly in a role of a moneylender in Perugia.13
He also bought some property in Cortona (a vineyard) and owned it up to 1435 according
to the łocal registers of catastro,14
On the other hand, in a document from Perugia occurs certain Gaio, i.e. Isacco (Yic-
chaą) in some context of written documents and writing. In the record from 1418 Gaio,
9 The name Ezracha was accepted by the scholars who viewed this manuscript in the 1990s: “(•••) the first
inscription written by the owner, Nathaniel ben Abraham States that the scribe Isaac Ezraha of Catalano
wrote the manuscript (...)”, Jewish Art in Poland. Hebrew llluminated Manuscripts, “Center for Jewish Art
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Newsłetter”, 1995, 11, p. 6.
10 N.Y. ha-Cohen, Otsar ha-gdolim alufe Yaaqov: kolei toldot gdole Israel mi-tąufat ha-ge’ onim ha-
rishonim mi-shnat 590’ad 1590, vol. 3, pp. 209-211.
11 Although not exactly from Catalonia, as Zerachya ben Yicchaą (again!), sagę and translator from the
13th century Saragossa, N.Y. ha-Cohen, ibidem, p. 214.
12 A. To aff, Gli eberi di Perugia, Perugia 1975, p. 36.
13 Idem, Jews ofUmbria, vol. 1, Leiden 1993, p. 370.
14 The history and activity of moneylenders in Cortona and its vicinity is discussed byD. Bornstein,
Law, Religion, and Economic: Jewish Moneylenders in Christian Cortona [in:] J.A. Marino, T. Kuehn (ed.),
A Renaissance of Conflicts: Visions and Revisions ofLaw and Society in Italy and Spain, Toronto 2004, pp.
241-258, see esp. pp. 243-245.
Ezracha,9 however, is not testified elsewhere, to our best knowledge. One could guess that
beyond the spelling nniTN is concealed the name n[’]mT with prosthetic N, which would
be pronounced as ezrachya or simply zerachya analogous to two variants of TYIT and niTN.
Another possibility is that the spelling nmTN is an erroneous one or a corrupted form of
nnrv [azraya], Ali in all, the extensive (although not completely reliable) lexicon of Naf-
tali Yaaqov ha-Cohen does not know a rabbi bearing the name nmTN while it does know
some rabbis with the name iTTHT [Zerachya] from Spain, according to the surname Cata-
lano, of Catalonia, but no one fits an approximate time span of the events and places testi-
fied in the colophon.10 The first one is rabbi Zerachya ha-Levi from Toledo, which is in
Castile and not Catalonia. Two names - Yicchaą and Zerachya-appear regularly in Spain-
Provenęal family of halachic scholars with the most famous among them Zerachya ben
Yicchaą ha-Levi, who lived in the 12th century, an author of several influential works such
as Sefer ha-Maor. But some degree of coincidence with our scribe seems accidental. On
the other hand, according to the same source there are still rabbis named Zerachya from
Barcelona - Zerachya ben Sheshet, 13th/14th century and - morę famous - Zerachya ben
Shaltiel ben Yicchaą, among Biblical exegetes of the 14th century. What is conspicuous,
almost all sages bearing the name Zerachya enumerated in the Ha-Cohens lexicon come
from Spain.* 11 We may conclude that there is no decisive indication that the scribe Yicchaą
reveałs some family links with the above mentioned Catalonian/Castilian sages, however
the repetitions of the names combinations Zerachya and Yicchaą are especially freąuent
in that time in Spain.
On the other hand, the name of Perugian Citizen Nathanael ben Avraham is well testi-
fied. Nathanael ben Avraham ben Nathanael was a well-known bank owner or money-
lender in Perugia of that time. In the Latin documents of the city of Perugia he appears as
Deodato son of Abramo (di Abramo) son of Deodato.12 There are some references to him
there starting from 1390. His name appears mostly in a role of a moneylender in Perugia.13
He also bought some property in Cortona (a vineyard) and owned it up to 1435 according
to the łocal registers of catastro,14
On the other hand, in a document from Perugia occurs certain Gaio, i.e. Isacco (Yic-
chaą) in some context of written documents and writing. In the record from 1418 Gaio,
9 The name Ezracha was accepted by the scholars who viewed this manuscript in the 1990s: “(•••) the first
inscription written by the owner, Nathaniel ben Abraham States that the scribe Isaac Ezraha of Catalano
wrote the manuscript (...)”, Jewish Art in Poland. Hebrew llluminated Manuscripts, “Center for Jewish Art
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Newsłetter”, 1995, 11, p. 6.
10 N.Y. ha-Cohen, Otsar ha-gdolim alufe Yaaqov: kolei toldot gdole Israel mi-tąufat ha-ge’ onim ha-
rishonim mi-shnat 590’ad 1590, vol. 3, pp. 209-211.
11 Although not exactly from Catalonia, as Zerachya ben Yicchaą (again!), sagę and translator from the
13th century Saragossa, N.Y. ha-Cohen, ibidem, p. 214.
12 A. To aff, Gli eberi di Perugia, Perugia 1975, p. 36.
13 Idem, Jews ofUmbria, vol. 1, Leiden 1993, p. 370.
14 The history and activity of moneylenders in Cortona and its vicinity is discussed byD. Bornstein,
Law, Religion, and Economic: Jewish Moneylenders in Christian Cortona [in:] J.A. Marino, T. Kuehn (ed.),
A Renaissance of Conflicts: Visions and Revisions ofLaw and Society in Italy and Spain, Toronto 2004, pp.
241-258, see esp. pp. 243-245.