Chamisha Chumshei Torah of Rabbi Mordechai Mortara, the Rabbi of Mantua - with the Customs of the Community ...

Chamisha Chumshei Torah of Rabbi Mordechai Mortara, the Rabbi of Mantua - with the Customs of the Community, Instructions for Leading the Community and the Synagogue in his Handwriting - An Extremely Rare Item Indicating the History of the Community of Mantua
Chamisha Chumshei Torah, Wein, 1859. The personal copy of Rabbi Mordechai Mortara, the leader of the community of Mantua. On the title page of the book, a Hebrew stamp: "… the stamp of R.M [Rabbi Mordechai/Mortara], to serve the community of Mantua…" and his ownership stamp in Hebrew and a foreign language.

Three white leaves with important handwritten details were bound at the beginning of the book.
On the first leaf: "The order of reading the Parshiyot and Haftarot on holidays and fasts and the four Parshiyot", on two pages.
On the second leaf: "The customs of the synagogue" - two leaves written on both their sides with forty nine customs of the synagogue of Mantua.
These leaves contain rare important information about the customs of the Jewish community of Mantua, as they were written by the rabbi of the community.

Several leaves were also added at the end of the volume. On the first page: "a blessing that I had introduced to the community to be said after the reading of the admonishments". On the next two leaves, a table handwritten by Rabbi Mortara, titled: "A table for Rosh Chodesh and the readings of the Parshiyot for the years 1860 to 2059. After the first table, detailed tables with Italian instructions, written on five pages.
Throughout the book, dozens of instructions and additions related to the reading of the Torah on the Jewish Holidays.

Rabbi Mordechai Mortara (1815-1894) was born in Viadana to his father Rabbi Yosef. He moved to Mantua to study and was one of the first disciples of Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto. In 1836 he was ordained as a rabbi and in 1842, replaced Rabbi Ya'akov Kazis, who had died during the previous year, as the rabbi of Mantua.
Rabbi Mortara opposed the abolition of the second day of the holy days which had been planned by some of the liberal members of his congregation. He authored many booklets of Derashot and translated prayers books into Italian. He was known for his book "Mazkeret Chachmei Italiya". Among his books: "Pe'er Ha'Adam" and "Ruach Yisrael". He owned a large library with many manuscripts. After his death, his library was sold to the well-known researcher David Kaufman.

Condition: Very Good. Ancient binding with a leather spine. The book is in ancient leather case (not original).