Bibliophile edition of 200 enumerated copies with high quality color photographs, in a luxurious leather binding, together with a matching leather case.

Mahzor according to the Roman rite, Soncino –Casalmaggiore 5246 (1485-1486). 

Facsimile edition of the copy printed on parchment in the U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem.

Among all the  mahzorim  in the various  rites published during the earliest years of Hebrew typography this Italian rite Mahzor was the first to be brought to print by the renowned  printers of the Soncino family. The Mahzor was printed in two towns in northern Italy, Soncino and Casalmaggiore in 5246 (1485-1486) and it is considered to be one of the great achievements in the early stages of Hebrew  typography. This first edition of the Mahzor is also invaluable for the study of the history of  Jewish prayer.

This large-size volume includes prayers and piyyutim (liturgical poems) for the entire year and ritual laws and also incorporates instructions for all the annual rituals in the synagogue and the Jewish home. The laws and customs are not strictly limited to the rituals but provide   sustenance for all the household needs of the Roman community and the hundreds of communities following the Roman rite throughout central and northern Italy towards the end of the 15th century. The typography of the Mahzor is clear and easily legible and includes vowel-points (nikkud) and is adorned with large decorated initials made from woodcuts.

The copy of the Mahzor from which this facsimile edition was printed, together with the companion volume of studies, is in outstanding condition. The copy is now preserved in the U. Nahon Museumof Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem. It is a complete, superb copy printed on vellum[b1]  that was donated to the synagogue of the Italian Jews in Jerusalem in 1960, by the “Sereni Committee” headed by Prof. B.Z. Dinur, as an eternal memento of the first Italian pioneer, Enzo Sereni (Rome 1905 – Dachau 1945) who fell to the enemy after parachuting into Italy during World War II.

The Mahzor is printed for the first time in a facsimile edition. 

Studies on the Mahzor according to the Italian Rite edited by Mordechai Angelo Piattelli

This collection of studies by various Israeli scholars is dedicated to the study of the Italian  (Roman) rite liturgy, prayers and piyyutim, their editions and the culture of the Jews in Italy during the second half of the 15th century, the period the first edition of the Mahzor was published (Robert Bonfil, Peter Lehnardt, Mordechai Angelo Piattelli, Yitzhak Akiva Satz). Also included are studies on the typography and contents of this first edition of the Mahzor  (Yitzhak Yudlov, Michael Ryzhik and Peter Lehnardt, who compiled the index of piyyutim in the Mahzor). 

The prayer rite designated ‘rite of Rome’ – together with the related Romanian  rite – is the most ancient rite practiced in Europe. This rite is an important link in the history of Jewish prayer, and it retains vestiges of the early Palestinian (Land of Israel) rite even though it absorbed  many other religious practices, laws and  Babylonian liturgies as did other rites. The original name was “the rite of the loazim” i.e., the custom of the Jews who spoke Latin or one of the other Romanite languages, or ‘the rite of Rome’. This rite was followed in the city of Rome and probably in other Jewish communities in Southern Italy until the final expulsion of the Jews from the South in 1541. The rite spread from Rome to other Jewish settlements in central and northern Italy and thus it was eventually designated the ‘Italian rite’, i.e., the custom shared by all the Jewish communities in Italy.  Other communities as well adopted this rite including some in Safed during the 16th and early 17th centuries and some congregations in Constantinople and Salonica. Today this rite is followed in a few communities in Italy and in the Roman rite synagogue in Jerusalem.