General

Title

Jerusalem (Israel), IM: B50.02.1945; 180/40

Manuscript name

Jerusalem, IM, B50.02.1945; 180/40

Summary

This parchment rotulus, dating to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and preserved in the Israel Museum, is a sui generis masterpiece of kabbalistic visualization. Measuring 6.70 meters in length, the ilan presents a long sequence of complex geometric elements that recall modern grid paintings, exhibiting a unique graphic intensity and inscrutability that sets it apart from all other known examples of the genre. The scribe utilized Ashkenazi script for large captions—particularly those identifying vowel signs—and Sephardi script for his discursive annotations. Thematic motifs of the "Point" (nekudah) and "Thought" (mahashavah) serve as the central anchors of the ilan, which develops an iterative narrative focused on the esoteric significance of vowel signs, depicted as supporting structures for the emergence of the Tetragrammaton. While the content suggests primary inspiration from the "secret of the yod" (raza de-yod) in the Zohar Tetzaveh, the ilan is in fact a type of "visionary commentary" rather than a conventional diagrammatic mapping of established textual knowledge.

Support material

parchment

Identifier

B50.02.1945; 180/40

Repository

IM

Country

Israel

Settlement

Jerusalem

Creation time

Date

18th century