Title

Description

The manuscript contains entries for approximately 20 circumcisions performed by Rabbi Yisroel Grego between 1732 and 1770 [Images 39–46], and Hebrew prayers recited during circumcisions transcribed from the standard work on the subject matter entitled Sod Hashem, which is not transcribed here [Images 3–37].

Yisrael was the son of Asher Yitsḥak Grego of Verona; his mother may have been from Venice. Yisrael mentions his wife Columbo, his sister Neḥamah, and the following uncles and great-uncles: David Grego; Shlomoh Grego; Ya’akov Saliti of Venice; Avraham Eliyahu Fani of Venice; and Shabtai Menaḥem Latis, who was his aunt’s husband.

Yisrael records the death of his father Rabbi Asher Yitsḥak Grego and some additional records in Italian [Image 38].

The first circumcision performed and recorded by Rabbi Yisrael son of Rabbi Asher Yitsḥak Grego was in June 1732 [Image 39]. He records a circumcision performed on the day of his wedding in 1738 [Image 40].

He records the circumcision of his sons and the births of his daughters:

• Asher Yitzchok—November 1740, [Image 41]
• Neḥamah, who is called Consola in Italian, on December 15, 1741 [Image 41]
• Avraham Ḥayim, who was named after his father-in-law—December 1743
• Ya’akov, who was named after his father’s uncle Yackov Saliti—December 1746 [Image 42-43]
• David Ḥayim, who was named after his father’s uncle David Ḥayim Grego—born January 9, 1749 [Image 44]
• Shlomoh Ḥai who was named after his father’s uncle Shlomoh Ḥai Grego [Image 45]
• David Shlomoh Ḥai who was named after his father’s uncles David Grego and Shlomoh Ḥai Grego [Image 45]
• On December 24, 1769, he circumcised his grandson David Ḥayim, the son of his daughter Consola (Neḥamah) and his son in law Avraham Yitsḥak Tsoref [Image 46].

The final entry in the ledger was written by Asher Yitsḥak son of Yisrael Grego, who at the age of 60 circumcised his son, the first-born child to his mother, on April 21, 1801 [Image 46].

The ledger contains information pertaining to four generations of the Grego family:

Generation 1: Rabbi Asher Yitsḥak Grego

Generation 2: Rabbi Yisrael Grego, the original owner of ledger

Generation 3: Asher Yitsḥak Grego, born 1740, whose circumcision is recorded and who records the circumcision of his own son

Generation 4: Yisrael Grego, born 1800. In 1852, the ledger was in his possession [Image 2].

A product of a cooperation agreement between the Russian National Library and Touro University’s Project Zikaron in 2019. This pinkas is part of the Günzburg Manuscript Collection

at the Russian National Library in Moscow. This overview and the accompanying annotated transcription were made by Rabbi Yitzchok Stroh of Brooklyn, New York, in 2022.

Category

Year of Publication/Creation

1732-1801

Language(s)

Hebrew

Geographic Places

• Verona 1, Italy (read online)