St. Petersburg, Russian Museum of Ethnography, inv. no. 6396-101The Kitzes Ilan

St. Petersburg, Russian Museum of Ethnography, inv. no. 6396-101The Kitzes Ilan

Shelfmark:
inv. no. 6396-101, Recto
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg, Russia
Dimensions:
430 × 52.5 cm
Material:
parchment
Form:
rotulus
Main Language:
Rabbinic Hebrew
About the MS:
This imposing Hasidic Great Tree of the VPaZW type was collected by S. An-sky during his ethnographic expedition to Volhynia and Podolia between 1912 and 1914. Executed in the late nineteenth century, it is exceptional for its massive scale, measuring 430 by 52.5 centimeters, which is roughly twice the size of comparable rotuli. The scribe exploited this width by enlarging the standard diagrammatic components (modules), resulting in a spacious layout that makes this Great Tree significantly wider than is commonly found. A distinctive feature of the work is its claim to include the glosses of the prominent Hasidic leader Rabbi Zev Kitzes of Mezhbizh, a close disciple of the Ba’al Shem Tov. While this attribution added prestige to The Magnificent Parchment, its contents largely mirror the standard configurations of its family. It remains one of only two known examples of a VPaZW Great Tree produced in Europe rather than North Africa.
Type:
Great Tree, Lurianic
Research Literature:
  • J. H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2022), 214–215.