Vatican MS. Neofiti 20

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican, Vatican)

Codex

Parchment

Brown (iron-gall)

Quill

There is ruling

Metallic point leaving coloured traces

Grid of single vertical and horizontal lines

34

34

260

210

179

137

1471

15th Century CE

Italy

Hebrew

Linguistics

No vowels or accents

Colophon after the first work (fol. 201r): “And all the work, the work of the holy service, was completed on Friday, the twenty-ninth of the month of Iyyar, in the year ‘He shall magnify the Torah and make it glorious’ [= 1491], of the sixth millennium, by the hand of Judah Aaron, may he be preserved and supported, son of the late Benjamin Ze'ev, of blessed memory; and I wrote it for Shlomo, son of the late Emmanuel de Palteri, of blessed memory […]”

[The name of the original owner was erased in the colophon, and “Emmanuel de Palteri” was written over the erasure.]

Fragment of a birth record for a daughter, fol. 201v:

“… [illegible] two days of the month of Tishrei … in the year ‘it shall blossom and flower’ [= 1534], according to the abbreviated reckoning, which are 25 September and 1533 according to their reckoning.”

There is an additional ownership record from 1501. The seller is “Shlomo ben Emmanuel” and the purchaser is “Isaac ben Yihiel.”

https://sfardata.nli.org.il/#/manuscript/0E209 (Date accessed: 2026-09-22)

990001011080205171

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts/itempage?vid=KTIV&scope=KTIV&docId=PNX_MANUSCRIPTS990001011080205171&SearchTxt=neof.%2020,AND (Date accessed: 2026-09-22)

https://digi.vatlib.it/mss/detail/Neofiti.20 (Date accessed: 2026-09-22)

Sacerdote, G. I codici ebraici della Pia Casa dei Neofiti in Roma, In Memorie dell'Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche

Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library; Catalogue, ..., edited by Benjamin Richler, palaeographical and codicological descriptions by Malachi Beit-Arié in collaboration with Nurit Pasternak. Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2008 (Studi e Testi 438).