The eighteenth-century scribe and illustrator Uri Fayvesh ben Isaac Segal was a significant member of the Hamburg-Altona school of illustrated manuscript production. This decorated manuscript of the prayers for a circumcision ceremony was owned by one Joseph ben Samuel. On its title page (not shown) is an unidentified coat of arms decorated with the Order of the Elephant, a Danish order of chivalry and the country’s highest-ranking honor. Six other manuscripts signed by Fayvesh are known, and five further unsigned manuscripts are attributed to him. The illustrations here show the circumcision ritual: the mohel stands, knife in hand, while another man, perhaps the father (who is the one obligated to circumcise his son), stands behind him. In the second image, the final blessing over wine is illustrated by a picture of a young man, in a fenced-off outside area, flanked by wine barrels and flasks and holding a flask and wine cup in his hands.
I set the Yiddish letters with my own hands.
Elle, daughter of the respected rabbi Moses from Holland.
I am not more than nine years old.
Among six children I am the only daughter.
Therefore, if you…
Blessed is the match, consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the heart’s secret places.
Blessed is the heart that knows, for honors sake, to stop its beating.
Blessed is the…