General

Title

Jerusalem (Israel), Meir Benayahu Collection

Manuscript name

Zacuto-Ẓemaḥ Arik and the Enrobings Ilan

Summary

This seventeenth-century Zacuto-Ẓemaḥ (Z) ilan, preserved in the Meir Benayahu Collection in Jerusalem, represents a seminal stage in the evolution of the Lurianic ilan. It elegantly splices together two foundational diagrammatic modules: Moses Zacuto’s Arikh Anpin (Z13) and Jacob Ẓemaḥ’s visualization of the Enrobings (Z14). The manuscript exhibits a distinctive combination of Ashkenazi and Sephardi square scripts, featuring a particularly large and discordant medieval Ashkenazi square inscription. Textual analysis reveals that this ilan shares specific corruptions with the decorated Trinity Scroll in Cambridge (Cambridge, Trinity College, Scroll F.11.18), indicating they likely derive from a common source.

Support material

parchment

Identifier

Meir Benayahu Collection Ilan

Country

Israel

Settlement

Jerusalem

Research literature

J. H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022), 119.

Creation time

Date

17th century