02/10/2025
A priceless treasure has recently arrived at the National Library: a Yom Kippur Mahzor containing entire prayers previously unknown to us.
Usually, when centuries-old manuscripts of the Bible or prayer books reach the Library, we find the familiar words that we still see today in printed books and siddurim, almost word for word. Occasionally scholars discover a word that differs, or a passage that appears in another place. But entire prayers that have never been seen before? That is extraordinarily rare.
The city of Kaffa, known today as Feodosiya, is a small port on the Black Sea in southern Crimea. Few have heard of it today, but in the Middle Ages it was a lively commercial hub. Its residents, including the Jews who lived there, enjoyed freedoms of religion and occupation unknown elsewhere in Europe.
Different methods date the synagogue building in Kaffa to 909 CE, but further evidence of a Jewish community there only appears in the second half of the 13th century. This was a fascinating and diverse community, containing Rabbanite Krimchaks ("Crimeans"), Karaite, Khazarian, Genoese, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, yet sadly little documentation has survived.
The Mahzor, written in an elegant hand in the 14th century, contains piyyutim (liturgical hymns) for the Yom Kippur prayers of Shacharit, Musaf, and Ne’ilah, according to a tradition that has all but disappeared: the rite of Kaffa, today’s Feodosiya. In its day, Kaffa was a bustling international port and global trading center where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim merchants met, creating a cosmopolitan city shaped by many different cultures.
The uniqueness and significance of this manuscript lies in its contents. It is the sole surviving source for many ancient piyyutim, likely preserving an earlier stage in the development of the tradition of Crimean Jewry. While some of the poems are known from the Cairo Genizah, others are entirely unknown, and some appear here in unique versions not found in any other source. In one case, a poem preserved only partially in the Genizah appears in this Mahzor in its entirety, as though it had been safeguarded for future generations.
“The Yom Kippur piyyutim,” explains Dr. Chaim Neria, curator of the Haim and Hanna Solomon Judaica Collection at the National Library, “are the heart of Jewish prayer, as they touch on the matters of sin and repentance, and allow us to pray forgiveness, grace, and mercy. This manuscript is extraordinarily important for the study of early piyyut and also preserves the unique Kaffa liturgical tradition, where further research is certainly needed. This is an irreplaceable piece of Jewish history that enriches our understanding of medieval Jewish prayer, poetry, and community life, at the crossroads of East and West.”
The National Library recently acquired this rare Mahzor, which holds within it fragments of Jewish history that had nearly vanished, with the generous support of the The Krauss Family Charitable Trust. The manuscript has been conserved, digitized, and is now available to all through the Library’s website. See the first comment below to view it in its entirety.
Along with other unique blessings, the final leaf contains a previously unknown version of a blessing for mourners. It reads, "Blessed are You… Who understand every creature… Resuscitator of the dead. May You soon have mercy on Your people and comfort the heart of mourners… Comforter of Zion and the heart of mourners. And may everyone who does kindness to another be recompensed… Who pay goodly reward to doers of kindness. May You withhold Your anger… Who stops pestilence, sword, destruction, and plague from us…".
Dr. Neria adds, “We could certainly adopt this piyyut today as we pray for the return of the hostages and for a time of peace.”
