This very small manuscript (95 x 70 mm), written in Italy sometime during the 14th century (according to palaeographical criteria), can be considered as a manual for studying laws pertaining to ritual slaughter (Sheḥitah) and possible faults in kosher animals rendering them unkosher to eat (Treifah) by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anav of Rome (Rivevan, d. after 1280), both laws of which are based on the Talmudic tractate Ḥulin. This work is followed by precepts on ritual slaughter taken from a legal work for the Jewish home, entitled Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh by Solomon ben Abraham ben Adret of Barcelona (Rashba, 1235-1310). Both authors and their works will be described below.
Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe was a liturgical poet, Talmudic scholar and member of the prestigious and ancient Roman family named Anau (with Italian pronunciation) or Anav, in Hebrew, meaning ‘humble’. According to tradition, the Anavs were descended from one of the aristocratic families of Jerusalem, whom Titus had exiled to Rome after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. It is also the first Jewish family in Rome to be known by a surname. Other variants for this name are Degli Manzi, Del Manzi, Umano, Pietosi and Piatelli. In a colophon of a late 13th century Italian manuscript preserved in Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. Heidenheim 41, folio 10v, which also encloses a copy of the same work, the name Del Manzi, spelled here in one word, is used as a surname for Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe, instead of Anav, as can be observed in the following translation of the colophon: The laws of Sheḥitah are finished, whose author is the Rabbi R. Judah bar Benjamin ha-Rofe Delmanzi, may his soul be in Eden and may his memory be blessed for life in the next world (‎נשלמו הילכות שחיטה‎ ‎שחיבור הרב ר' יהודה ביר' בנמין הרופא דלמנזי‎ ‎נ'ע' וז'ל'ה'ה'‏‎).‎‎
Furthermore, there are branches stemming from the Anav family which bear equally ancient names, such as Min ha-Knesset (also found as De Synagoga or Mi-beit El) and Bozecco or Bozecchi. The latter family with this name is known to have had a synagogue in Rome named after it and where a ruling by the elders of the Jewish community of Rome on a particular case regarding the laws of Treifah took place on the 10th of the month of Iyyar in the year 5040 (equivalent to 11th April 1280 according to the Julian calendar), during Judah ben Benjamin’s lifetime.‎
The ruling considered the consumption of cattle with any sort of adhesion of flesh (‎סרכה‎/sirkhah) on the areas of its lungs forbidden (‎טרפה‎/trefah, litt. meaning ‘torn’, cf. Exodus 22:30: …You must not eat flesh that is torn… and thus not kosher). On the other hand, when there are no adhesions whatsoever on the cattle’s lungs, it is known in Yiddish as Glatt (‎גלאט‎) or in Hebrew as Ḥalaq (‎חלק‎) meaning ‘smooth’ and the animal is permitted and kosher. The written record of this decision discusses a case when some particular types of adhesions are permitted by some authorities but forbidden by the elders of the community of Rome. The ruling in question mentions two of the most respected Sephardic rabbinical authorities of the Middle Ages, Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham Adret (Rashba, 1235-1310), still alive in 1280 and Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides (Rambam, 1135-1204), written in abbreviated form in the text. The elders of the community of Rome refute Maimonides’ opinion regarding the law found in chapter 11:10 from his Mishneh Torah, where he permits the adhesion (sirkhah) “… from the lobe to the flesh and the bones of the ribs. I, by contrast, am one of those who permit it.” Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Maimonides also refers to communities where this custom is forbidden in the next sentence: “…There are places where the custom is that if a sirkhah is from the lobe to the flesh and the bones of the ribs and the sirkhah is attached to both of them, they forbid it…” Consequently, the Jewish community of Rome is one of the communities which also forbids this practice by stating that they “…declare it trefah no matter in what manner it is stuck, whether it is stuck to its own pocket, even [if it is stuck to] flesh, in any location whatsoever.”
This ruling has been recorded in a marginal gloss of this small 14th century manual, on folios 126r-126v as follows:
Transcription: בחמישי בשבת בעשרה ימים לירחא אייר שנת חמשת אלפים וארבעים ליצירה נתקבצו כל יודעים דת ודין בקהל רומא ונמנו וגמרו בכנסת הבוציקי לנהוג בעניין אונא באומא ואונא באונא כדיברי רבינו שלמה ו'ה'ר'מ'ה' ב'מ'ז'ל' פירוש שלא כסידרן הראשונה עם השלישית אבל הראשונה עם השנייה בכל מקום שדבוקה זו לזו מכשירין ועינוניתא דוורדא נהא בני קהל רומא להטריף בכל עניין שדבוקה בין בכיסה אפילו בשר בין בכל מקום.‏ 1

• 1: This same text is preserved in Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. Heidenheim 41, folio 42v albeit with one variation: אונה באונא ואונא באומא .

‎ Translation: On Thursday, 10th of the month of Iyyar, year 5040 from the Creation1, all those of the community of Rome ‘who have knowledge of law and judgment2’ congregated. They took a vote and resolved, in the Synagogue of Bozecchi, that on the topic of ‘a lobe stuck to the main body of the lung and a lobe stuck to another lobe’ they would conduct themselves according to the words of our Rabbi Solomon3 and of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, may his memory be blessed: the meaning of [‘it is trefah when the adhesions] are out of order' is: [when] the first [lobe] adheres to the third4. But [if] the first [adheres] to the second, in any location at which they are stuck together, they permit it5. As for the small, rose-like lobe6, the members of the community of Rome declare it trefah no matter in what manner it is stuck, whether it is stuck to its own pocket, even [if it is stuck to] flesh7, in any location whatsoever. 

• 1: Anno Mundi. Check footnote 7‎
• 2: Cf. Esther 1:13.
• 3: Cf. Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh, house 2, gate 3.‎
• 4: Cf. Mishneh Torah, Sefer Kedushah, Hilkhot sheḥitah, chapter 8: 5: … the first lobe became attached to the third, [the animal] is treif…(‎שנסמכה ראשונה לשלישית טריפה‎)‎
• 5: Cf. ibid., chapter 8: 5: … When one lobe is found clinging to the one next to it, [the animal] is permitted…(‎אוזן שנמצאת דבוקה בחברתה הסמוכה לה מותרת‎)‎
• 6: Cf. ibid., chapter 8: 1: … The lungs have five lobes. When a person will drape them over his hand with the inner portion of the lung facing his face, there will be three [lobes] on the right and two on the left. In addition, at the right of [the lung], there is a small ear-like attachment. It is not in the row of the lobes. It has a pocket of its own and it is located in the pocket. This [attachment] is called a rose, because that is what it looks like. It is not counted as one of the number of lobes.‎‏ ‏
  ‎‏(וחמש אונות יש לריאה כשיתלה אותה אדם בידו ופני ריאה כנגד פניו, שלש מן הימין, ושתים מן השמאל, ובצד ימין ממנה כמו אזן קטנה ואינה בצד האונות ויש לה כמו כיס בפני עצמה והיא בתוך הכיס, ואוזן זו קטנה היא הנקרא ורדא מפני שהיא דומה לורד ואינה מן המנין, לפיכך אם לא נמצאת הורדא מותרת, שכך היא דרכה יש בהמות תמצא בהם ויש בהמות לא תמצא בהם, ואם נמצאת נקובה אע"פ שהכיס שלה סותם את הנקב הרי זו טרפה)‏‏.‏
• 7: Cf. ibid., chapter 11: ‎‏9‏‎: Similarly, if there was a strand extending from the lung to the heart, the diaphragm, the protective covering of the heart, or the rose‏ ‏we forbid [the animal]. [This applies] whether the strand came from the body of the lung or whether it came from a lobe and [applies regardless of its size], even if it was a hairsbreadth. Similarly, when the rose is attached to its pocket or a strand extends from it to its pocket, we forbid it. And when a strand extends from lobe to lobe in improper order, we forbid [the animal].‎
  ‏ (וכן אם היה מן הריאה חוט משוך ללב או לטרפש הכבד או לכיס הלב או לורדא, בין שהיה החוט מן האום של ריאה בין שהיה מן האוזן ואפילו היה כחוט השערה אוסרין אותה, וכן ורדא שנמצאת דבוקה בכיסה או חוט יוצא ממנה לכיסה אוסרין אותה, וחוט היוצא מאזן לאזן שלא על הסדר אוסרין אותה).‏
  And chapter 11:10: There are places where the custom is that if a sirkhah (adhesion) is from the lobe to the flesh and the bones of the ribs and the sirkhah is attached to both of them, they forbid it. My father (Maïmonides’ father) and teacher is from those who forbid it. I, by contrast, am one of those who permit it.‎
  (יש מקומות שמנהגן אם מצאו סירכא מן האוזן לבשר ולעצם שבצלעות והסרכא דבוקה בשתיהן אוסרין אותה, ואבא מרי מן האוסרין ואני מן המתירין‏...‏)

[The transcription and translation of this halakhic text was done in collaboration with a colleague, Dr Israel Sandman, from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College, London and for whom I am grateful to for his help].
Conclusively, it appears that the laws on Sheḥitah and Treifah by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anav were not only found in Italian slaughter manuals, such as Mss Heidenheim 41 and Private Collection Utopia, Ms Heb.1, which were undoubtedly destined to ritual slaughterers (Shoḥtim) and/or rabbis (who had to know how to verify an animal after it had been ritually slaughtered in some instances), but were also commonly inserted into medieval maḥzorim (prayer rituals containing the liturgy of the festivals of the Jewish year) according to the Roman rite. These laws not only made reference to the customs of the community of Rome but also justified their presence as appended material to the liturgy because of the need to have these laws at hand, for the verification of slaughtered animals before the festivals of the Jewish liturgical year, when eating meat was considered an important part of the meal. For examples of such Italian maḥzorim of liturgical-halakhic type containing these laws, see three 14th manuscripts housed in Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, MSS Parma 3008, Parma 2884 and Parma 350 (see Richler, n°890, 909, 911). Although, these latter manuscripts have not been viewed, it is very probable that the Bozecchi synagogue ruling is present within all the copies of the laws on Sheḥitah and Treifah. This is precisely the case in a fourth and last specimen, where this ruling was recorded on folio 190v in the 2nd volume of a 15th century Italian maḥzor according to the Roman rite, which also encloses the laws on Sheḥitah and Treifah by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anav and is preceded on folio 190r, by a quote from Solomon ben Abraham Adret’s Torat ha-Bayit. This maḥzor used to be in the possession of Solomon Halberstam (shelfmarks n° 225-226) and then passed into the collection of Hebrew manuscripts from the Sir Moses Montefiore Endowment, before being sold at auction in 2004 at Sotheby’s in New York (see catalogue, n°174, pp. 233-235).
As for the legal work of Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arukh (Ed. Princeps Venice 1607), it was compiled by Solomon ben Abraham Adret (1235-1310), a Spanish rabbi and one of the foremost Jewish scholars of his time, whose influence and opinions carried weight far beyond the frontiers of Spain. Adret belonged to a well-to-do family of Barcelona, where he lived all his life. He not only left a literary legacy of thousands of responsa, he also composed novellae on 17 tractates of the Talmud as well as commentaries on the aggadot (stories, parables) in the Talmud. Furthermore, he acquired considerable knowledge in the philosophical and scientific literature of his day, even though he headed the movement against the spreading of these subjects to the populace. The legal compendium Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arukh is divided into seven parts and deals with ritual observances, such as ritual slaughter (Sheḥitah), forbidden foods (Treifah), from which some extracts found in our manuscript were taken, as well as laws on Gentile wine (Yayin nessekh) and ritual purity (Niddah). For practical purposes of guidance, Adret wrote the Torat ha-Bayit ha-Katsar (Ed. Princeps Cremona 1566) as an abridgement of the lengthy work that bears the same name.‎

• ff. 1r-2v : Lacunary index to the following work.‎
• ff. 3r-108v : Commentary on the Talmudic tractate Ḥulin relative to the laws of ritual slaughter (Sheḥitah) and possible faults in kosher animals rendering them unkosher to eat (Treifah) by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anav of Rome (Rivevan, d. after 1280).
  • (f. 108v) : Colophon to the Commentary on the Talmudic tractate :‎‎
    Transcription:
    נשלמו הילכות
    שחיטה וטריפה
    בארובה וקצרה בעין
    יפה פרים למיכל
    ועליהם
    לתרופה
    
    Translation :‎ The laws of Shekhitah and Treifah are finished in length and shortness with generosity, oxen to be eaten and on them [is the] remedy.‎
• ff. 109r-132v Extracts on the laws of Sheḥitah taken from the Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh, a halakhic work on laws relative to the Jewish home by Solomon ben Abraham ben Aderet of Barcelona (Rashba, 1235-1310).‎
  • (f. 119v) : Transcription:
    עד כאן דברי הרב ז'ל'‏
    בתורת הבית
    להר' שלמה
    דברזילונא
    
    Translation :‎ Up to this point words of the Rabbi may his memory be blessed in the Torat ha-Bayit of the Rabbi Solomon of Barcelona.‎