[Tefilot, piyuṭim ve-shirim]. [תפלות פיוטים ושירים]. [Special prayers, poems and hymns].

English title supplied from Roth, "Catalogue", in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no.51 (iv).

Nature of the booklet: The booklet is most likely a private notebook which possibly was started by Yedidiyah ben Laurah Baer(?) and finished by at least one other hand. The booklet begins with Yedidiyah's private prayer before Torah study which is followed by two early modern hymns about the Thirteen Principles of Faith (שלשה עשר עקרים). Both were authored by Italian Jews; one by Mordekhai Dato (1525-1601?) (see Davidson, Otsar ha-Shirah, vol. 3 (New York 1930), 11, no. 215), and the other by Yosef Barukh ben Yedidiyah Zekharya Urbino (17th century) (see Davidson, Otsar ha-Shirah, vol. 3, 277–78, no. 664). The two hymns are meticulously and professionally copied. The poems thereafter are written in a much messier and swifter, most likely different, hand. It firstly copied Yehuda ben Shelomoh Al-Ḥarizi's (ca. 1167–1225) 'Refuʾot ha-geṿiyah' (see Davidson, Otsar ha-Shirah, vol. 3, 486, no. 1699), a poetic adaptation of chapter 4 of 'Hilkhot deʿot' of Maimonides's Mishneh Torah. This is followed by 'Musar haśkel be-melitsah' ascribed to Hai ben Sherira Gaʼon (939–1038) (see Davidson, Otsar ha-Shirah, vol. 2 (New York 1929), 429, no 3694) and Yeḥiʼel ben Asher's (c. 1267–1314) 'Maʿaseh ʿugah' (see Davidson, Otsar ha-Shirah, vol. 1 (New York 1924), 73, no. 1589). At the end of the booklet an Italian translation of song 'Tsur mi-shelo akhalnu' is to be found (sung during grace after meals on Shabbat).

Content 1. folios 1r–2r:" אני ידידיה באר בן לאורה מלפיניך מבקש שתפתח לבי בתורתיך". 2. folios 3r–5v: לאל עולם נתנה שיר" מאת מרדכי דאטו". 3. folio 6: עליון ודר חביון" מאת יוסף ברוך מאעורבינו (כנראה בלתי שלם) ". 4. folio 7r: one more stanza of the incomplete preceding poem "עליון ודר חביון" supplied in another far more messy hand; followed by pen-trials in Hebrew. 5. folios 7r–8v: pen-trials in Hebrew and Latin script as well as crude drawings; possible ownership note by David Reccanate(?) 6. folios 9r–11v: ."רפואות הגוויה לחכם רבינו יהודה [ב''ר שלמה אל]חרזי" . 7. folios 12r–13r: ."מוסר השכל במליצה לרב האי גאון זצ"ל" . 8. folio 13v: blank. 9. folios 14r–15r: "מעשה עוגה אחת שעשה הרב ר' יחיאל בן הרא"ש". 10. folios 15v–17r: pen trials in Latin script and crude drawings; possible ownership note by David Reccanate(?). 11. folios 17v–17r: Italian translation of "צור משלו אכלנו'', beginning, "Dio che ci notriscie e pascie."

State of text: Worn, stained and slightly mutilated with a few small pieces of text rubbed illegible.

Insertions b) 1 sheet with two stanzas of a different Italian translation of ‘Tsur mi-shelo’. a) 1 sheet of notes titled “Last Verse” most likely written by Roth.

Bibliographical note: Roth, “Catalogue”, in Alexander Marx: Jubilee Volume, vol. 1 (New York, 1950), no.51 (iv). National Library of Israel (NLI), Online Catalogue, system-no. 000185645, 000185646, 000185648–000185650. The NLI’s description is based on the microfilm of Ms Roth 51,i–viii made on behalf of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the NLI during the 1960s. The microfilm can now be downloaded in a digitised form from the NLI-webpage. The microfilm makes the eight different manuscripts defined as MS Roth 51,i–viii appear to be one codex, i.e., ḳovets, and as such they are described in the NLI catalogue (see record-no 000185639). This means that the 12 single NLI records dedicated to Ms Roth 51 are describing the textual units it contains and not the codicological ones. Davis, Handlist 164 (Leeds, 2005), no. 51 (iv).