General

Title

Jerusalem, NLI, Ms. Heb. 4=9795

Manuscript name

Poppers Ilan

Summary

This ilan, copied around 1700 by a scribe of German or Bohemian origin, is one of only two known copies that exclusively preserve Meir Poppers’ original ilan. The second, copied by Behr Eibeschütz Perlhefter (ca. 1650–ca. 1713), is held in the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California (Berkeley, Magnes Collection, acc. no. 67.1.11.3). The early Hammerschlag ilan (Jerusalem, NLI, Ms. Heb. 4=9794) might be considered a third, were it not for its modest modifications. The ilan features a symmetrical, tabular design that highlights the right, left, and center of kabbalistic cosmology. Its simple, unornamented style reflects the ilan’s original pedagogical purpose, as described by Poppers himself.

Support material

parchment

Main language

Rabbinic Hebrew

Hand description

Ashkenazic

Identifier

Ms. Heb. 9795=4

NLI identifier

997012314165205171

Repository

The National Library of Israel

Country

Israel

Settlement

Jerusalem

Research literature

J. H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022), 140–144, 349.

Creation time

Date

ca. 1700