Alba Bible

A superb example of manuscript illumination and the very first translation of the Hebrew Bible and glosses into Castilian. 1,046 pages containing the first translation of the Hebrew bible into Castilian by Rabbi Moses Arragel at the behest of Don Luis de Guzmán, Knight of the Order of Calatrava. Executed in Maqueda, Spain from 1422 to 1430 A strictly limited facsimile edition of 500 numbered copies. A prominent Churchman, Don Luis de Guzmán, commands the renowned scholar Rabbi Moses Arragel de Guadalajara to undertake a task of major significance. He is to translate the Hebrew Bible into Castilian and compile an extensive commentary, to be accompanied by a wealth of illustrations and illuminations in a monumental manuscript. The rabbi, loyal to his ancestors and his people, was most reluctant to agree to prepare a text which he felt might conflict with Christian doctrine and thus expose Spanish Jewry to attack. Pressure exerted by the ecclesiastical authorities eventually forced him to relent. The manuscript known today as the Alba Bible was completed in 1430. It might well have become a symbol of hope for those Jews and Christians who, prior to the tragic end of the Jewish presence in medieval Spain, sought to improve Jewish-Christian relations. Instead, their attempts failed, and the hostility fanned by the Inquisition culminated in the Expulsion of 1492. From now on the manuscript, at that time abandoned and probably even left unbound, will be able to play the role intended for it. The Alba Bible is not merely a superb example of Spanish manuscript illumination. It is all that remains of one of the last attempts by intellectual Jews and Christians to heal the rifts that finally led to the calamity of expulsion. The facsimile was published as a tribute to and celebration of the reconciliation and renewal of understanding taking place in our own time.Ben-Ami, Shlomo is the author of 'Alba Bible', published 1992 under ISBN 9788460418665 and ISBN 8460418669.