Seder sod h. ʿim tefilat ha-mohel u-ḳetsat dine milah ʿim birkat ha-mazon ṿe-seder pidyon ha-ben [u-vinḳas mohel]. סדר סוד ה' עם תפלת המוהל וקצת דיני מילה עם ברכת המזון וסדר פדיון הבן [ופנקס מוהל]. [Circumcision prayer book and ledger].

Hebrew title supplied from title page (folio 1r) and by cataloguer. English title supplied by cataloguer.

Alternative titles: Seder sod ha-Shem ʿim tefilat ha-mohel u-ḳetsat dine milah ʿim birkat ha-mazon ṿe-seder pidyon ha-ben. סדר סוד השם עם תפלת המוהל וקצת דיני מילה עם ברכת המזון וסדר פדיון הבן. Pinḳas mohel. פנקס מוהל. Mohel Bukh. Mohel Buch. מוהל בוך.

Time of creation of the manuscript: The earliest date of MS Roth *292 is derived from the chronogram "לפרט י'הי' ר'אובן' וא'ל ימות ויהי מ'תיו מספר' לפ''ק" on the title page of the manuscript's parchment part (see below decorations); the chronogram adds up to 551 (תקל"א) (the same date is given in the colophon on the last folio verso of the parchment part (see below 'scribal information'). The latest date of MS Roth *292 is derived from the latest date given in the last entry in the paper part of the manuscript.

Summary: MS Roth *292 consists of at least four different material parts which were bound together likely at different points in time: the marbled made end-papers; the paper flyleaves preceding the parchment part; the paper part following the parchment part; and probably at least one gathering added to the paper part (see below 'binding'). The illuminated and professionally copied parchment part of MS Roth *292 contains prayers for the circumcision ceremony ('Brit Milah'), the following festive meal and the ritual of the redemption of the first-born as well as some halakhic excerpts. Except for the initial flyleaf, which was originally blank the parchment part was written by the prodigious professional scribe Uri Faybesh ben Yitsḥaḳ Ayzaḳ Shats Segal (1720–1795) (see below). The parchment part's initial flyleaf contains an acrostic poem of Benyamin Ṿolf ben Shemuʾel שליטא ('shaliṭa'). He probably was a circumciser ('mohel') who lived in a region of the German lands which is known today as Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria (see below). He wrote medical recipes and advice for circumcisers in Hebrew and Yiddish on the paper flyleaves preceding the parchment part. The parchment part is bound together with the ledger ('pinkas') of a wandering circumciser who mainly served the numerous, generally very small, rural Jewish communities ('Landjudengemeinden') in Lower Franconia for around 56 years. The mohel calls himself in his preliminary supplicatory prayer Ṿolf אייערום (Eyerhom?, that is, Euerheim?) (see folio [1r] (paper part)). His ledger contains 806 entries which were written probably in one hand, that is, probably by himself only (even though his handwriting changes during the 53 years he used the ledger, certain elements like the substitution for the Tetragrammaton remain comparatively stable).

Contents: Flypaper part: 1. folios [i]–[ii recto] (marbled late 19th-century(?) end-papers): blank. 2. folios [ii verso]–[iii recto] (flypapers): Medical recipes and advice for circumcisers written by בנימן וואלף בר שמואל שליטא. The recipes begin with ''אלו הם הבולפר לעצור הדם במילה בסיעת דשמי[ם]''. 3. folio [iii recto] (flypaper): blank. Parchment part: 4. folio [1r]: acrostic poem of Benyamin Ṿolf ben Shmuʾel, beginning: "אשרי האיש שהלך בזריזות לעבודת האל יתברך". 5. folio [1v]: blank. 6. folio [2v]: title page. 7. folio [2v]: blank. 8. folios [3r]–[12v]: סדר ברית מילה beginning with the header "''מנהג בכל תפוצות ישראל בבה''כ שמלין התינוק אומ' המוהל וכרות''. 9. folio [7r] : ''סוד ה' '' without commentary. 8b. folios [7v]–[10v]: "תפילת המוהל", continuation of circumcision ceremony. 8c. folio [11r]: illuminated circumcision scene. 8d. folios [11v]–[12v]: ברכת בורא פרי הגפן, continuation of circumcision ceremony. 9. folio [13r]: "קצת דיני מילה". 10. folio [13v]–[23v]: סדר ברכת המזון'' כמנהג פולין ואשכנז". 10b. folio [22r]: ''ברכה על היין''. 10c. folio [23r]: illuminated illustration of wine-grower. 11. folio [23v]–[24v]: ''דיני פדיון הבן''. 12. folio [24v]: colophon. Paper part 14. folio [1r]: Acrostic private supplication prayer of the circumciser וואלף אייערום (name in acrostic and below prayer). 15. folio [1v]–[50r]: Circumcision ledger (פנקס). 15b. folio [23r]: Circumciser's report about him being robbed on the road between גאגסהיים (Gochsheim?, today county of Schweinfurt) to אייערום (Euerheim?, today county of Schweinfurt) in the night from 17 to 18 Ḥeshṿan 5567 (Thursday 30 October 1806).

Nature of the entries in the circumcision ledger: In each entry, the circumciser Ṿolf normally notes at least the date of the circumcision, the name of the boy, his father's name, the name of the godfather ('sandak'), the location where the circumcision was performed as well as the traditional formula ה' יזכו לגדלו לתורה לחופה ולמעשים טובים. In some of the initial entries, a second man, rabbi Mendel from ''בורג פרעבאך'' (Burgpreppach?, today county of Hassberge), who helped to perform the circumcision, is named.

Dates in the ledger: The first date given in the pinkas is 1 Shevaṭ 543 (4 January 1783) and the last, 9 Shevaṭ 596 (28 January 1836); the latter stated to be the date of a boy's death whom Ṿolf circumcised three days before. At the end of this last entry Ṿolf states: ''הספר מונח עד שיבאו אליהו במהרה בזמנינו אמן''. The changing script and appearance of all entries, as well as the 'poor' material state of the whole text, clearly indicate that Ṿolf took his pinḳas with him and wrote most of the entries 'on the move' at different times and with different pens and ink.

Travel tale: In the context of the entry concerning the circumcision of the 400th boy, Ṿolf gives a short report of his deliverance from a band of four brigands who beat him bloody and robbed him on his way from גאגסהיים (Gochsheim?, today county of Schweinfurt) to אייערום (Euerheim?, today county of Schweinfurt) in the night from 17 to 18 Ḥeshṿan 567 (Thursday 30 October 1806) (see folio [23r] (paper part)).

State of text: Fine, formerly white, parchment (most likely vellum), made, as far as can be detected, according to Ashkenazic tradition, that is, hair and flesh side are not distinguishable. Thick paper of good quality. Especially the parchment part of the manuscript is now stained and browned through dampening and dirt (old bug remains on folio 53v). Some erosion of ink and much more of colouring. Loss of text and of part of the illuminations. Worn around the rubricated edges. Warped text block and binding.

Bibliographical note: On illustrated circumcision ledgers in general, see Frojmovic, Eva. “Illustrated Mohelbooks and Circumcision Liturgies.” In Mappot... Blessed Be Who Comes: The Band of Jewish Tradition, edited by Annette Weber et al., 55–61. Osnabrück: Secolo Verlag, 1997.