Collectaneous writings copied by B. Senior Godines for Isaac ben Matatiah Aboab
Amsterdam, 1682.
Compendio / de diferentes materias / dignas de se lerem para / ter as noticias do qua elas / contem, / que são as que parece da Taboada / que segue. / Anno 5442 /
במצות יצחק בן מתתיה אבוהב יצ″ו על ידי ב‘ שניאור.
Ownership inscription on the front flyleaf: ‘Para meu Matatias ben Isaac Aboab’.
Contents:
Inside the cover: an excerpt of Gemara translated into Portuguese.
p. [4-8]: Collection of Biblical verses and their interpretation.
p. [9-14, 16, 18] blank.
p. [15]: Title page.
p. [17]: Index.
p. 1-13: “A eternidade da Ley de Mosseh”. List of Bible verses to demonstrate the eternity of the Law of Moses.
p. 14-15: The 7 commandments of Noah.
p. 16-17: The 13 articles of faith according to Moses Maimonides.
p. 18: The 3 articles of faith according to Josseph Albo.
p. 19-38: Arguments against Christian dogmata.
p. 39-45: Enumeration of contradictions in the Gospels.
p. 46-48: Spanish polemical poem against Christianity. Inc.: “Si es de las cauzas: cauza y primero”. Exc.: “Ymagen de palo que Laboran.”
p. 49-51: Some polemical observations.
p. 52-54: Table of precepts.
p. 55-61: “Breve relação sobre a grandeza dos/ Ceos e Terra conforme o famozo Astrono-/mo Cardano, Para admiração da grandeza do senhor Ds e sua omnipotencia/ Louvado seja o q assy o dispôs e governa”. Astrological annotations based on Girolamo Cardano’s work.
p. 62-63: Costs of the building of the Sephardic synagogue of Amsterdam, 1675.
p. 64-68: Ethical precepts of Isaac de Matatiah Aboab for his nephew, dated Amsterdam, 10 Sivan 5437 (1677).
p. 69-77: Spanish translation of Hebrew prayers.
p. [101-105]: Hebrew list of prayers to be recited on several occasions.
The same Spanish poem is found in other polemical works in this collection, sometimes with a different ending. See EH 48 B 16 (Saul Levi Morteira, “Providencia de Dios con Ysrael”). In the manuscript of the Saul Levi Morteira’s treatise “Objecciones con que el Cinience Injustamente calunia al Talmud…” (EH 49 B 03), the author is stated to be Mosseh Belmonte.
The contents are identical with those of EH 48 E 19, apart from the printed book by Solomon d’Oliveira. At the end a chronological table in a later Sephardic cursive hand.
I. S. Révah, “Pour l´histoire des nouveaux-chrétiens portugais. La relation généalogique d’I. de M. Aboab”, Boletim Internacional de Bibliografia Luso-Brasileira, vol. II, n. 2, April-June 1961, p. 281.
Bequeathed by Rabbi Jacob Ferares of The Hague in 1885.
Text in Portuguese with parts in Spanish and Hebrew / Paper / 12,7 x 8,4 cm. / [2] + 77 pp. (last 12 ll. blank) / Variety of lines to a page / Neat italic and some rabbinic cursive and unvocalised square writing / Contemporary blind-tooled leather binding.
Fuks 418. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.