JTS MS 2367, fol. 83a

Notes

1. The opening completes “through circumcision we shall come within and within” at 82b:44–45. “Gate of the LORD” recalls Psalm 118:20; the following quotation is Leviticus 16:3. The abbreviation ש׳ is retained without a certain expansion. Biblical allusions and abbreviation. ↩
2. Deuteronomy 30:12: מי יעלה לנו השמימה. Taking the first letters in order gives מ־י־ל־ה, מילה (“circumcision”); taking the last letters gives י־ה־ו־ה, the divine Name. The commentary then treats השמימה (“to heaven”) as a further step toward the hidden light. Both letter sequences have been checked directly. Verified notarikon. ↩
3. השארות המוחלט denotes the soul’s lasting existence; “absolute survival” preserves the technical formulation. The three sciences continue 82b:37–39: mathematical, natural, and divine sciences. The abbreviations at lines 5 and 7 remain unresolved. “Thirty-two paths of wisdom” recalls Sefer Yetzirah 1:1; the good gold recalls Genesis 2:12. JTS’s feminine pronouns are retained, without harmonizing their antecedents. Terminology and interfolio continuity. ↩
4. The prayer formula is from the Amidah’s petition for hearing prayer. The manuscript’s numerical statements calculate exactly: פה = 80 + 5 = 85; מילה = 40 + 10 + 30 + 5 = 85; כל פה = 20 + 30 + 80 + 5 = 135; מצה = 40 + 90 + 5 = 135. The image reads פ״ה בגי׳ מילה, not the draft’s פי׳ בגיד מילה. The uncertain ער is provisionally expanded as ערל, “uncircumcised”; the full word appears in the repeated citation at line 12. The citation is Exodus 12:48. Verified gematria and textual correction. ↩
5. “The ten slain by the kingdom” is the conventional designation of the Ten Martyrs. The commentator explains “true circumcision” through transmigration and the complete removal of the foreskin, then invokes Job 33:29 (“twice, three times”). This is the text’s mystical interpretation, rather than an implication of the biblical verse alone. Terminology and biblical prooftext. ↩
6. JTS’s compressed “will understand the soul” does not state that bodily life is the soul’s death; that explicit proposition belongs to Oxford. The English does not supply the missing proposition. “Lengthening” and “shortening” retain the text’s bodily language, whose precise relation to lifespan and bodily attachment is not specified here. Consequential witness difference. ↩
7. Compare Bava Kamma 91b and Bava Batra 26a: R. Hanina says that his son Shikhhat died because he cut down a fig tree before its time. JTS instead reads “Hanina my son”; the image supports retaining that name, not silently substituting the Talmud’s son’s name. The earlier transcription note’s attribution to Kohelet Rabbah was mistaken. Primary text: Bava Kamma 91b. Rabbinic parallel and name variant. ↩
8. Ezekiel 16:6 repeats “I said to you, In your blood, live.” The commentator relates the repetition to two times followed by a third, returning to Job 33:29. The source breaks המו / סר[?] across lines 17–18. “Removes” is a conjectural interpretation of that difficult form; the garment apparently represents bodily covering, but the wording is not secure enough to normalize silently. Biblical repetition and unresolved syntax. ↩
9. The interpretation explicitly identifies the pearl with the soul and what is discarded with bodily powers. Judges 5:31 supplies “those who love him [are] like the sun going forth in its might.” The exclusion of the wicked from transmigration is the commentator’s stated inference; this passage does not explain how widely that exclusion applies. Biblical citation and limits of the inference. ↩
10. Chesed means kindness and also names the divine attribute. The short form יא׳[?] is provisionally expanded through Oxford’s יאמר, “is said.” Image review establishes עד, “as far as,” before “mighty in the land.” The latter wording occurs in Genesis 10:8 and Psalm 112:2; Oxford applies it here to Abraham. The text deliberately derives kindness toward the undeserving from the attribute’s lack of discrimination between good and evil. Lemma extent and terminology. ↩
11. Genesis 12:5, ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, literally “the soul[s] whom they made in Haran.” The translation retains “made” because the commentator interprets the phrase through drawing people to worship and repentance, rather than merely acquiring a household. Biblical citation and interpretation. ↩
12. The image supports a provisional צייר[?], “depicted,” followed at line 32 by “him on the left side,” instead of the earlier ציד[?], “hunter.” The instruction דע[?], “know,” is also provisional. The passage proceeds to discuss alternative arrangements of Abraham and Isaac; no reconstructed diagram is imposed on these difficult statements. Image recheck and diagrammatic reference. ↩
13. Genesis 24:1 and Bava Batra 16b. The Talmud distinguishes R. Meir’s “he had no daughter,” R. Judah’s “he had a daughter,” and Others’ “he had a daughter named Bakkol” (literally, “with everything”). JTS quotes the named-daughter opinion at line 36 and the unqualified affirmative opinion at line 38. Both are affirmative in the image: no missing negation is supplied. The contrast may therefore concern those two affirmative opinions; the commentary does not fully explain why they yield different sources of the Shekhinah’s sustenance. The image reads במערב, “in the west,” correcting the draft במשכב. This localization recalls the discussion of the Shekhinah in the west in Bava Batra 25a. The syntax of the abbreviated dispute formula at line 35 remains uncertain. Primary discussion: Bava Batra 16b. Rabbinic opinions, image correction, and unresolved interpretation. ↩
14. The attribute just mentioned is Gedulah on the right, here assigned to Isaac. The argument then connects Abraham’s hospitality with the northern table and wealth. Compare Bava Batra 25b, where turning north is associated with wealth and the table stands in the north; the maxim is quoted explicitly on 83b:3. The right/left assignments at lines 31–39 are retained as written rather than normalized to a familiar sefirotic diagram. The first occurrence of נמשך at line 42 is deleted and remains uncertain; the second is clear. The final clause continues on 83b, with a repetition of “the Torah.” Primary discussion: Bava Batra 25b. Diagrammatic argument, rabbinic parallel, and continuation. ↩