Die hebraische Bibel in Bilderhandschriften des Mittelalters (review)

Abstract

132 SHOFAR plicity of modern design, especially in typography. A sentimental illustrator, Guggenheim-Weil is at her best in the design and layout of Hebrew texts, whether written in manuscripts (Haggadah, Megillah, Ketubbah), embroidered on the curtains of the Torah Ark, or carved beneath or above the surface of tombstones, especially of family members in Swiss cemeteries. Guggenheim-Weil demonstrates the creative possibilities of a career as a contemporary designer and artisan in the field of Jewish art, but also the limitations of her role as a decorator whose work is so often absorbed by larger frames of reference. Perhaps it is for this reason that her tombstones seem to be her strongest, most authoritative work, because she has so completely shaped their independent existence. Richard Brilliant Columbia University Die hebraische Bibel in Bilderhandschriften des Mittelalters, by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, translated by Peter Hahlbrock et al. Fribourg, Switzerland: Office du livre, 1987. 173 pp. Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, the current president of the European Association for Jewish Studies, is one of the leading experts in the field of medieval Jewish art. A disciple of the late Georges Vajda, she is also an expert in early Kabbalah . Her discovery of a distinctive school of book illuminators who worked in Portugal in the 15th century, and which she described in her book Manuscrits hebreux de Lisbonne. Un atelier de copi~tes et d'enlumineurs au xve siecle (Paris, 1970), was followed by the publication of numerous other works and textual studies. When the editors of the famous Parisian encyclopedic series of books "Que sais-je" decided to dedicate a volume to Jewish art, it was natural for them to invite Mme Sed-Rajna to write it. In the present version of The Hebrew Bible (the book was originally written in French), Mme. Sed-Rajna sets out to examine and to analyze the way in which medieval book illuminators presented biblical scenes, events, and personalities in such volumes. As basic references, she uses the sequences of biblical scenes found in two famous Spanish Haggadoth, the "Golden Haggadah" and the "Sarajevo Haggadah," both of which were produced in the 14th century. A third haggadah, the "Barcelona Haggadah," was included in the original data base for this study. This document, now preserved at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, is unfinished and does not contain much relevant information. These three documents, however , merely form a starting point. Mme. Sed-Rajna also relies on her extensive knowledge of many other relevant documents, which today are deposited Volume 9, No.3 Spring 1991 133 in many parts of the world. She even introduces the readers of her book to a hitherto unpublished German manuscript dating from about 1290, which she found in the University of Breslau library. The study is arranged into chapters which discuss the great biblical personalities in chronological order. It starts with a chapter on Adam and Eve and continues with one on Noah. Subsequent chapters focus respectively on Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Aaron, David, and Solomon. The penultimate chapter discusses "men of God"-Samson, Jonah, and Job-while the last chapter is devoted to "women ofvalor"-Miriam, Esther, and Judith. The author knew very well that she could not merely present the biblical text and the medieval pictures. In order to enable her readers to fully understand the painters' message, she had to include information taken from the rabbinical interpretations of the Bible. For instance, the beautiful sequence of three scenes representing the sacrifice of Isaac, taken from the Breslau Machsor (p. 45), could not possibly be fully understood without the reader's knowing the description given in the Midrash (Genesis Raba 56:4 and elsewhere). This states that the page, which should be read in a clockwise direction, has a first scene, at the lower front, in which Abraham is being followed by a man, and trying not to listen to what he has to say. If my understanding is correct, then this gentleman is none other than Samael, or Satan, trying to dissuade Abraham from continuing with his project (of sacrificing Isaac). This is only one of many examples of this type of interpretation. It is little wonder...