JTS MS 2367, fol. 82b

Notes

1. The opening completes 82a:44. Ecclesiastes 1:9 supplies “nothing new under the sun”; the flame in the ember recalls Sefer Yetzirah 1:7 (numbering varies by recension). The commentary locates multiplicity in recipients rather than the divine grades. The abbreviation המ׳ is not expanded. Song of Songs 6:9 supplies “One is my dove.” The masculine “he” after the feminine “she” follows the source. Bad means linen and also participates in the language of aloneness or singularity; the next line associates the line with the letter vav. Biblical, textual, and lexical note. ↩
2. Leviticus 16:23 supplies leaving the linen garments, and 16:13 the incense cloud covering the ark-cover so the priest does not die. JTS’s כי יד יי שמה is retained as “the hand of the LORD is there,” unlike Oxford’s shorter כי ייי׳ שמה. The abbreviation מה׳ is provisionally expanded as Malkhut throughout this passage; ש׳ as Shekhinah, and קו׳ as “line.” These expansions do not establish that each abbreviation has only one possible referent. The unclear ש׳ at line 6 and מד׳ at line 7 are left unexpanded. No numerical value for vav is asserted by the translation. Biblical, witness, and abbreviation note. ↩
3. Exodus 33:20 supplies “no human shall see me and live.” The exposition connects the bodily crown exposed in circumcision with the feminine divine figure; “crown” therefore remains a literal rendering of עטרה, rather than being replaced by Keter. “Head of the corner” echoes Psalm 118:22, and “his kingship rules over all” Psalm 103:19. Line 12 moves between masculine and feminine reference; the translation retains this rather than assigning every pronoun to one subject. Biblical and interpretive note. ↩
4. Genesis 17:12 prescribes circumcision on the eighth day; the commentary situates it above the Binding of Isaac through the relation between Chesed and Pachad. Its eighth-grade count is preserved as stated. “The line in general and in particular” is not expanded into an invented numerical demonstration. No gematria calculation is asserted. Biblical and numerical note. ↩
5. Exodus 30:10 supplies atonement on the altar once a year; Leviticus 16:3 supplies “with this Aaron shall enter the sanctuary.” Genesis 17:10 supplies “this is my covenant, which you shall keep.” The commentary links the two uses of “this,” then compares circumcision’s once-only character with annual atonement. Their differing frequencies remain explicit. The image supports הכיפור, not the portal’s הספור. Biblical and witness note. ↩
6. Leviticus 16:8 names the two lots, for the LORD and for Azazel. The commentary expressly denies directing worshipful intention toward Azazel, while linking the discarded foreskin with that figure. ש׳ is rendered “the LORD” in the paired sacrificial formula and Shekhinah in the exposition’s identified feminine figure; the Hebrew abbreviation is preserved. The syntax at line 24 and the verb מחלה at line 26 remain uncertain. “Them” in line 27 follows the plural Hebrew without inventing a named group. “Iniquity shut its mouth” quotes Job 5:16. The repeated fragments לע / לעזאזל at 25–26 and 28–29 are represented by a divided English name. Biblical, syntactic, and interpretive note. ↩
7. “His kingship rules over all” echoes Psalm 103:19. The wilderness instruction recalls sending the goat away in Leviticus 16:21–22; it is reported here as the medieval commentary’s analogy. Isaiah 56:2 supplies the happiness lemma, with the commentary identifying its subjects as converts. The two uncertain words at line 30 remain separately marked. The unfinished syntax at 32 continues into 33; it is not repaired from Oxford’s smoother ובזה תלוי. Biblical and textual note. ↩
8. The deleted word is retained without making it part of the running sentence. The preceding construction is broken; Oxford’s ובזה תלוי cannot silently repair it. “As far as” announces the endpoint of a longer quotation. Oxford names heart and eye as the two agents of sin; JTS quotes only the endpoint and says the author’s own explanation suffices. “Author” refers to the author of the Great Parchment, not to the translator. Scribal, syntactic, and witness note. ↩
9. “The tree’s foreskin” draws on the language of Leviticus 19:23. The image corrects the lemma’s opening to וערלת, but does not resolve its last two words. “Its coming” is the literal rendering of the current בואה reading; the resulting phrase remains unintelligible. ט׳ is provisionally read as nine [grades]. This is an abbreviation expansion, not a gematria equation. The anticipated lamed at the end of line 35 is repeated in להשיג at line 36 and is translated once. The mound and casting behind the back are retained rather than replaced by Oxford’s גזע, “trunk.” Biblical, textual, and abbreviation note. ↩
10. Leviticus 19:24 supplies the fourth year and holiness. The exposition juxtaposes the three circumcision procedures with mathematical, natural, and divine sciences; no individual one-to-one mapping is stated. The following list has imagination, appetite, and sensation as material faculties through which perfection is reached. The wording at 41 is difficult beside “judgment and justice”; the apparent tension is not repaired with an invented negative. The next line explicitly attributes wrong and violence to the recipient. These are descriptions of the manuscript’s argument, not practical ritual directions. Biblical, philosophical, and textual note. ↩
11. The base text’s “every excess is a deficiency” is expounded through Proverbs 25:16, where honey taken beyond sufficiency causes vomiting. The next lemma links circumcision with entry לפני ולפנים, literally “within and further within,” an idiom for the innermost sanctuary. It continues at 83a:1; the word at 82b:45 is a catchword and is not a second occurrence in the running sentence. Oxford’s intervening explanation concerns the organ’s covering in the womb; JTS does not reproduce it here. Biblical, lexical, and witness note. ↩