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Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry ( he, שמחה בן שמואל מויטרי; died 1105) was a French Talmudist of the 11th and 12th centuries, pupil of
Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
, and the compiler of ''Machzor Vitry''. He lived in
Vitry-le-François Vitry-le-François () is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. It is located on the river Marne and is the western terminus of the Marne–Rhine Canal. Vitry-le-François station has rail connections to Paris, Reims, Strasb ...
.


''Machzor Vitry''

''Machzor Vitry'' contains decisions and rules concerning religious practise, besides
responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
by
Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
and other authorities, both contemporary and earlier. The work is cited as early as the 12th century in R.
Jacob Tam Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a gra ...
's ''Sefer ha-Yashar'' (No. 620) as having been compiled by Simchah; and the sources from which the compiler took his material—the ''Seder Rav Amram,'' the '' Halakot Gedolot,'' and others—also are mentioned. R.
Isaac the Elder Isaac ben Samuel the Elder (c. 1115 – c. 1184), also known as the Ri ha-Zaken (Hebrew: ר"י הזקן), was a French tosafist and Biblical commentator. He flourished at Ramerupt and Dampierre, France in the twelfth century. He is the father of ...
, a grandson of Simchah, also refers to ''Machzor Vitry'' compiled by his grandfather. Various additions were afterward made to this
machzor The ''machzor'' ( he, מחזור, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgr ...
, a large proportion of which, designated by the letter (= "tosafot"), are by R.
Isaac ben Dorbolo Isaac ben Dorbolo was a rabbi, about 1150. He traveled much, and knew Poland, Russia, Bohemia, France, and Germany from his own observations. Some time after 1140 he visited Rabbeinu Tam in Ramerupt. In Worms, where he remained for some time, he r ...
(Durbal). The latter often appends his name to such additions; and in one place he says plainly: "These explanations were added by me, Isaac b. Dorbolo; but the following is from the Machzor of R. Simchah of Vitry himself". Other additions are by Abraham ben Nathan Yarhi, author of ''Ha-Manhig,'' and are designated by the letters , his initials.


Extant manuscripts of the Machzor

Several manuscripts of ''Machzor Vitry'' are extant, the oldest of which, according to
Abraham Berliner Abraham (Adolf) Berliner (May 2, 1833 – April 21, 1915) (Hebrew: אברהם ברלינר) was a German theologian and historian, born in Obersitzko, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia. He received his first education under his father, who w ...
is from
Isaac Samuel Reggio Isaac Samuel Reggio (YaShaR) (Hebrew: , ) (15 August 1784 – 29 August 1855) was an Austro-Italian scholar and rabbi. He was born and died in Gorizia. Reggio studied Hebrew and rabbinics under his father, Abraham Vita, later rabbi of Gorizia, acq ...
, currently in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America library (NY JTS 8092).MAḤZOR VITRY
in Jewish Virtual Library
It contains ''Machzor Vitry'' proper without any additions. A second manuscript, in the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second ...
, Oxford (Neubauer, ''Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.'' No. 1100), is said to have marginal annotations by
Eleazar ben Judah Eleazar of Worms (אלעזר מוורמייזא - also מגרמייזא of Garmiza or Garmisa) (c. 1176–1238), or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, also sometimes known today as Eleazar Rokeach ("Eleazar the Perfumer" אלעזר רקח) from t ...
, author of the ''Sefer ha-Rokeach'' (Michael, ''Or ha-Chayim.'' No. 1214). The third manuscript is in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
(Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200 and 27,201), and contains still other additions; this manuscript served as basis for S. Hurwitz's edition of ''Machzor Vitry'' published by the Meḳiẓe Nirdamim Society (Berlin, 1893). The edition is very faulty, as the editor used no critical judgment in his work; instead of the original treatises it contains some from the ''Sefer ha-Terumah'' of
Baruch ben Isaac Baruch ben Isaac, called usually from Worms or from France (Tzarfat) was born approx. in 1140 and deceased in 1212 in Eretz Israel where he went in 1208 together with his friend Samson ben Abraham of Sens. He is not to be identified with another Ba ...
and from the ''Eshkol'' of Ravad. A fourth manuscript is in Parma -
Biblioteca Palatina The Biblioteca Palatina or Palatina Library was established in 1761 in the city of Parma by Philip Bourbon, Duke of Parma. It is one of the cultural institutions located in the Palazzo della Pilotta complex in the center of Parma. The Palatina L ...
Parm. 2574 (DeRossi cat. no. 159), which appears to be of similar age to the Reggio manuscript. Two recently published papers suggest that another manuscript (MS ex- Sassoon 535) is earlierS. Stern and J. Isserles'', "
The Astrological and Calendar Section of the Earliest Mahzor Vitry Manuscript ( MS ex- Sassoon 535)
, ''Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism'', 15.2 (2015), pp. 199-318.
(mid-12th century), and that there are in fact a corpus of thirteen extant Mahzor Vitry manuscripts. Only the British Library (Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200 and 27,201), JTS (NY JTS 8092), and Paris ( AIU H133) manuscripts are digitized and available online. The others are found in libraries, except for MS ex-Sassoon 535 (Sassoon-Klagsbald 535), which was anonymously purchased from Sassoon in 1975 and has since been inaccessible in a private collection.


Additions to the Machzor proper

''Machzor Vitry'' contains many prayers and liturgical poems ( piyyutim), which are distributed throughout the work. Besides these scattered poems the British Library manuscript has (pp. 239–260) a collection of piyyutim which was published by Brody under the title ''Kontres haPiyyutim.'' (Berlin, 1894). In the published edition of this Machzor there is also a commentary on the Pesach Haggadah, which, however, does not agree with that by R. Simchah b. Samuel of Vitry printed at Vilna in 1886. The latter commentary, which agrees with the one cited by
Abudraham David Abudarham (fl. 1340) ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד אַבּוּדַרְהָם), referred to as Abu darham, Abudraham, or Avudraham, was a rishon who lived at Seville and was known for his commentary on the Synagogue liturgy. Biography He is sa ...
as being found in ''Machzor Vitry'', was taken from a manuscript of that machzor—probably from the parchment copy owned by the Vilna Gaon, although no particular manuscript is mentioned in the Vilna edition itself. The published edition of ''Machzor Vitry'' also contains a commentary on Pirkei Avot. This commentary is found in the British Library manuscript, but in neither of the others. It is really a commentary by Jacob ben Samson, the pupil of Rashi, amplified in the present Machzor. Many midrashic sayings, which are cited as such in ''Machzor Vitry'', have been preserved in that work alone. Thus the passage cited (p. 332) from the Midrash Tehillim is no longer found in the present midrash of that name. Likewise there are found in ''Machzor Vitry'' citations from the Jerusalem Talmud which are lacking in the existing editions of the latter.


Editions

Machzor Vitry was published in 1891 by
Mekitze Nirdamim Mekitze Nirdamim ( he, מְקִיצֵי נִרְדָּמִים, ''Meḳitse nirdamim'', "Rousers of Those Who Slumber") is a literary society dedicated to the retrieval, preservation, and publication of medieval Hebrew texts. It was first esta ...
. A new edition, based on Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200-27,201, Sassoon-Klagsbald 535, NY JTS 8092, Ginzberg 481, Bodleian 1100, Bodleian 1101, and Bodleian 1102 was published by Aryeh Goldschmidt between 2003 and 2009.


Footnotes


Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

*S. Hurwitz, Einleitung und Register zum Machzor Vitry, with additions by A. Berliner, Berlin, 1896–1897; *A. Epstein, in Monatsschrift, 1897, pp. 306–307; *idem, in R. E. J. 1897, pp. 308–313; *Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 1214.


External links

* Ernst Daniel Goldschmidt (1972)
Machzor Vitry
''
Encyclopedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...
''; via Jewish Virtual Library
The Maḥzor Vitry of the British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitry, Simhah Ben Samuel Of Jewish medieval literature 11th-century French rabbis 12th-century French rabbis 1105 deaths Year of birth unknown 11th-century French writers 12th-century French writers People from Vitry-le-François