Known as "Papal Jews" ("Les Juifs du Pape"), the Jews of Provence were granted protection by the Holy See, at that time based in Avignon, following their banishment from the rest of France in the fourteenth century. Later, they were restricted to four communities: Avignon itself, and the county or Comitat of Venaissin, namely Carpentras, Cavaillon, and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, all of which developed their own distinctive dialect and liturgy. The Jewish community of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was the smallest and is today the most mysterious, as it appears to have vanished already by the time of the Revolution.

These volumes offer hitherto unpublished insights into lost Judeo-Provençal liturgical traditions: covering the prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Eve, the first volume is signed by the scribe Eliyahu del Puget, known to have been active in Carpentras from 1656 to 1660. The date of 1650 pushes his floruit earlier and establishes that he also served the community of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. The second volume bears the name Astruc on the binding, that of a noted Sephardic-Provençal Rabbinical family.

Both volumes later came into the collection of the Chicago-based collector Philip Pinsof, and later to the German-born Rabbi Israel Otto Lehmann, who left them to the library of the Hebrew Theological College of Skokie, Illinois.

Although the liturgies of the Jews of Avignon were published already in the eighteenth century, those of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue have remained more obscure, making these manuscripts rare in the extreme. A remarkable testimonial to the distinctive traditions of one of Europe's smallest Jewish communities.

Provenance:

Vol. 1:

1) Eliyahu del Puget, scribe of the manuscript, colophon to vol. 1 dated 18 Sivan 1650.

2) Daniel de Beaucaire, inscription to rear paste-down of vol. 1, dated 1735.

3) Illegible name next to Daniel de Beaucaire.

4) Abram Sacenio or Sacenici, inscription to rear paste-down.

Vol. 2:

1) Israel Cohen and Rebecca, names in fine hand (not that of the scribe) on final written leaf.

2) Samel Astruc, name stamped on spine, member of the prominent Provençal Sephardic Rabbinical Astruc family.

Both volumes subsequently in the collection of 1) Philip Pinsof of Chicago (1911-2003).

2) Rabbi Israel Otto Lehmann, German-born American biblical scholar (1912-2002).

3) Hebrew Theological College, Skokie, Illinois, deaccessioned and sold at Kestenbaum & Co., New York, 23 June 2016.

4) French private collection.