Places referenced
- Compound of the teacher Yosef b. Baḫtawayh
- Jerusalem
Works referenced
Content
Summary
Commentary on the Book of Numbers by Yefet ben ʿEli (Num 16:1–20:11, 20:17–22:4, 22:30–23:3, 23:7–9, 23:11–24:17).
Text 1
Text 2
בשם ייי אלהי ישראל ויקח קרח בן יצהר ואכד̇ קרח אבן יצהר אבן קהת אבן לוי ודתן ואבירם אבניי אליאב ואון אבן פלת בני ראובן אעלם אן הד̇א אלפצל ואן כאן פי אלתדוין
הנה באתי עתה היכול אוכל דבר מאומה הדבר אשר ישים בפי אותו אדבר הדא אלקול לעמרי קאלה לרסלה פי וקת גו
Codicology
All leaves of Yevr.-Arab. I 86 contain Yefet’s commentary on Numbers 16–34. The preserved quire numbers suggest that these are, in fact, two manuscripts mixed together. Thus, quire number 5 appears twice, on fol. 40r and fol. 111r. A mapping of the folios shows that quire numbers 2–6, 9 appear on folios that carry Num. 16–24 (quire 1 is not numbered; first folio of quire number 9 has Num. 21:15 but later quire numbers have not survived). Num. 24:18–28:7 are not found in the manuscript. Then quire number 5, 7, 11 appear on folios that carry Num. 28:8–34:18 (the latest number 11 corresponds to Num. 33:39). This suggests that Num. 16–24 and Num. 28–34 are from two different codicological units.
Hebrew numerals in top right corner of the recto of the first folio of each quire (quire number 1 is not numbered; fol. 11r quire number 2; fol. 20r quire number 3; fol. 30r quire number 4; fol. 40r quire number 5, fol. 55r quire number 6, fol. 70r quire number 9, later quire numbers have not survived) , no catchwords.
Partly worm-eaten with some loss of text; water-stained and faded in places, some pages torn.
Section headings written center aligned in a separate line, indentation of the first line of a new paragraph, sense dividers (dotted circle, colon, followed by blank space).
Paleography
Script
Hand 1
Incodicated Documents
Certificates of endowment, fols. 1r
זה הספר יש בו פתרון ויקח קרח עד פרשת פינחס מפתרון המלמד יפת בן עלי הנכר אלבצרי ז'ל' הקדישה אותו שרה בת ראובן שנפטרה מן העולם הזה נ'נ' ואישה משה בן יפתח הכהן אלרחבי על עדת בני מקרא יעזרם אלהים להיות בירושלם עיר הקדש תב' במ' בחצר המלמד יוסף בן בכתויה ת'נ'צ'ב'ה' תחת ידי הז' עזריה בן מצליח בן סהל המשכיל הכהן נ'ע' זכ' לב' יקראו בו כל הנקבצים אל המקום הזה בימי השבתות ובימי המועדים קדש לייי אלהי ישראל לא ימכר ולא יגאל ולא יעבט ארור מוכרו וארור קונהו וארור מוציאו מן החצר הזה כי אם יהי פחד במדינה יחביאהו בעת הצרות בלבד וישיבהו אל מקומו ואלהי ישראל יתן שכר טוב וגורל נעים למקדישו וכל מי שישמר הספר הזה ברוך הוא לייי וכל ישראל בכלל כל הברכות אמן ואמן:
This book contains a commentary on the [parashot] Korach (Num. 16:1–18:32) to Pinhas (Num. 25:10–30:1), from the commentary of the teacher, Yefet ben ʿEli, known as the Basran, may his memory be a blessing. It was endowed by Sarah bat Reʾuven, who deceased from this world, may her spirit be at rest, by her husband Moshe ben Yiftah ha-Kohen, al-Raḥabī, to the community of Qaraites, may God assist them, and stipulated it to be in Jerusalem, the Holy City, may it be rebuilt soon, in the compound of the teacher Yosef b. Baḫtawayh, may his soul be bound in the bundle of the living, under the care of the Elder, Azarya ha-Kohen, the teacher, son of Maṣliaḥ, son of Sahl, the learned, be his resting place in Eden, and his memory be blessed.
Those who gather in this place on sabbaths and on holidays holy to the Lord, Israel’s God, shall read in it. One must neither sell, redeem, nor pawn it. Cursed be the one who sells it, cursed be the one who buys it and cursed be the one who removes it from this compound! Only if there is fear in the city one may hide it, but only during times of distress and [afterwards] one must return it to this place. Israel’s God may grant a good reward and a pleasant fate to the one who endows it and to everyone who will safeguard this book. May he be blessed by the Lord and all of Israel with all the blessings, Amen!
History
Yevr. I
The manuscripts of the First Firkovich Collection (now known as RNL Yevr. I) were collected by Abraham ben Samuel Firkovich (1787-1874) on the Crimean Peninsula, in the Caucasus, and during his first trip to the Near East in 1830. This collection contains 830 manuscripts, 277 of them (numbers 554-830) being Qaraite. Even though this collection is basically a Hebrew one, it does contain 75 Arabic manuscripts, mostly containing Qaraite works (many of them biblical commentaries by Yefet ben ʿEli and Salmon b. Yeruḥim). (David Sklare, “A Guide to Collections of Karaite Manuscripts”, in Karaite Judaism: A Guide to its History and Literary Sources , ed. M. Polliack, Leiden: Brill, 2003, 893–924 [907]). Most of these 75 Arabic manuscripts were acquired in 1830, probably by the agency of David ben Avraham ha-Levi (Jerusalem), brother of Moshe ben Avraham ha-Levi (1810-1905, Qaraite chief rabbi in Cairo) (see Zeev Elkin / Menahem Ben-Sasson, “Abraham Firkovich and the Cairo Genizas in the Light of his Personal Archive” [Hebrew], Peʿamim 90 (2002), 51–95, [65, n. 48]). The First Firkovich Collection was sold to the Imperial Public Library of the Russian Empire in 1862 for 100,000 silver roubles.
The Second Firkovich collection was acquired by Abraham ben Samuel Firkovich (1787-1874) during his second trip to the Near East between the years 1863 and 1865. It consists of more than 15,000 items, including Hebrew, Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic and Samaritan manuscripts. The majority of the collection appears to have originated from the Qaraite synagogue in Cairo. The Hebrew manuscripts of the Second Firkovich Collection were divided into several separate collections.
RNL Yevr. II A
Contains Hebrew works of law, exegesis, grammar and philology, theology, documents, etc. This collection contains 2,947 manuscripts. These include 896 bibliographical items (including different texts found in a single miscellany) which are Qaraite. The manuscripts are almost entirely later, Eastern European ones containing liturgical texts, piyyutim and documents.
RNL Yevr. II B
Contains biblical manuscripts written on vellum (1,582 items).
RNL Yevr. II C
Contains biblical manuscripts written on paper (728 items). Most of them are Hebrew biblical texts, but it also contains some other works, such as RNL Yevr. II C:1, a copy of Saʿadyah Gaon’s Tafsīr comprising 550 folios, copied at the end of the tenth century or the very beginning of the eleventh, or RNL Yevr. II C:725, Yefet ben ʿEli's commentary to Ezekiel.
RNL Yevr. II K
Contains 76 ketubbot, mostly Qaraite if not all. (Sklare 2003, 907).
The Judeo-Arabic manuscripts of the Second Firkovich Collection are divided into two series:
RNL Yevr.-Arab. I (previously known as II Firk. Yevr.-Arab., First Series)
Contains 4,933 items (although only 4,924 are in microfilm at the IMHM).
RNL Yevr.Arab. II (previously known as II Firk. Yevr.-Arab., New Series)
Contains 3,430 items.
RNL Arab.-Yevr.
Contains 382 manuscripts of Jewish texts in Arabic characters.
RNL Firk. Arab.
Contains 656 items of mostly Muslim texts and documents in Arabic characters.
The Second Firkovich Collection was sold to the Imperial Public Library of the Russian Empire in 1876 .
Heritage Data
Avraham E. Harkavy (1835-1919) was appointed to the department of Jewish literature and oriental manuscripts at the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg in 1868. In 1876, he was made head of the Department of Hebrew Books (Hebrew Department), and in 1877 appointed as ordinary librarian, a position which he held for the rest of his life. He was the first curator of the Firkovich collections. His unpublished cataloging of these collections consists of slips of paper (“Harkavy-Cards”) placed together with each manuscript that record his identification and/or brief description of the respective manuscript. These slips were the foundation for his handwritten four-volume inventory of the Yevr.-Arab. section of the Second Firkovich Collection.
p. 4
N. 86 (385)
Изъ коммент. на Числа Jeфета (на первой евр. приписка о посвящен іи караимской общин ѣ въ Jeрусалимѣ )
N. 87 (385)
3 л. изъ коммент. на Числа (м. б. принадлеж. предыдущ. N.)
N. 88 (385)
12 л. Изъ коммент. на Числа (Jeфета?)
N. 89 (385)
1 л. изъ коммент. на Исходъ
I
p. 5
Евр.-араб. I N. 86 (385)
Изъ коммент. на кн. Числа Jeфета
II
(161 лист.)
roughly corresponds to p. 3
Heqdesh note to
Avraham E. Harkavy (1835-1919) was appointed to the department of Jewish literature and oriental manuscripts at the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg in 1868. In 1876, he was made head of the Department of Hebrew Books (Hebrew Department), and in 1877 appointed as ordinary librarian, a position which he held for the rest of his life. He was the first curator of the Firkovich collections. His unpublished cataloging of these collections consists of slips of paper (“Harkavy-Cards”) placed together with each manuscript that record his identification and/or brief description of the respective manuscript. These slips were the foundation for his handwritten four-volume inventory of the Yevr.-Arab. section of the Second Firkovich Collection.
p. 4
N. 86 (385)
From the commentary on the Book of Numbers by Yefet (on the first [page] is an additional note containing a dedication to the Karaite community in Jerusalem)
N. 87 (385)
3 folios from a commentary on the Book of Numbers (could belong to the previous N.)
N. 88 (385)
12 folios from a commentary on the Book of Numbers (by Yefet?)
N. 89 (385)
1 folio from a commentary on the Book of Exodus
I
p. 5
Evr.-Arab. I N. 86 (385)
From a commentary on the Book of Numbers by Yefet
II
(161 folios)
The “Harkavy-Cards” were the foundation for his handwritten four-volume inventory of the Yevr.-Arab. section of the Second Firkovich Collection. This inventory is today held at the Vernadsky Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev, and also served as basis of the library’s card catalog prepared over the years by Harkavy, F. Kokovtzov, R. Ravrebe, A. Vasilev and V. Lebedev.
/ מפי' במדבר (ליפת, ועל הדף הראשון נמצאת הרשימה: / זה הספר יש בו פיתרון ויקח קרח עד פרשת פינחס מפתרון המלמד יפת בן עלי הנכר אלבצרי ז̇ל̇ הקדישה אותו שרה בת ראובן שנפטרה מן העולם הזה נ̇נ̇ ואישה משה בן יפתח הכהן אלרחבי על עדת בני מקרא יעזרם אלום להיות בירושלם עיר הקדש תב̇ במ̇ בחצר המלמד יוסף בן בכתויה ת̇נ̇צ̇ב̇ה̇ תחת ידי הז̇ עזריה בן מצליח בן סהל המשכיל הכהן נ̇ע̇ זכ̇ לב̇ יקראו בו כל הנקבצים אל המקום הזה בימי השבתות ובימי המועדים קדש לי̇י אלקי ישראל לא ימכר ולא יגאל ולא יעבט ארור מוכרו וארור קונהו וארור מוציאו מן החצר הזה כי אם יהי פחד במדינה וחביאהו בעת הצרות בלבד וישובהו אל מקומו. ואלקי שראל יתן שכר טוב וגורל נעים למקדישו וכל מי שישמר הספר הזה ברוך הוא לי̇י וכל ישראל בכלל כל הברכות אמן ואמן: ובפ' חקת (כ״א י״ד) כתוב: / וקולה בספר מלחמות ייי אלדי יקרב מני אנה כאן למשה כתאבא מפרדא מדוון פיה מלחמות ייי אלתי פעלהא פי מצרים והי עשר מכות וקריעת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק פמא שרחנא פי כתב זאת זכרון בספר אנה ישיר בה אלי הדא אלדיואן בעינה ומכתוב פיה מלחמת כנעני מדכורה פי הדה אלפרשה ומלחמת סיחון ועוג פהדא הו ספר מלחמות ייי פאמרה רב אלעאלמין ינקלה אלי אלתורה וידוונה פיהא פי מואצ̇ע מכתלפה עלי תרתיב אלזמאן ואלחואדית נט̇יר מא כאן ללמלוך דואוין משרוח פיהא אכבארהם ואמר אלאנביא תנקל בעצ̇הא אלי כתב אלאנביא פערף האהנא אן קצה נחל ארץ כתבת פי ג̇מלה ספר מלחמות ייי. / Bundle number: 385
Bibliography
Reproductions
General bibliography
Credits
Suggested Citation
St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Yevr.-Arab. I 86.1. In Digital Handbook of Jewish Authors Writing in Arabic, edited by Ronny Vollandt et. al. Accessed 15 September 2026, https://jalit.org/manuscript/1568
