This is a manuscript produced in Yemen, in the city of Dhamar, south of Sanaa, in 1640-1641. It is a copy of a printed book titled “Mahzor Sefardim”, a prayer book according to the Sefardi rite. Sefardic Jews were a community residing in Muslim Spain until the region was reconquered by Christians. How did a printed book of the Sephardi Jews end up in Yemen? It most likely arrived with bookdealers in the seventeenth century. In the absence of printing presses in Yemen, the only way to make new copies was to write it down by hand.
Mahzor Sefardim, [place of production not identified], [date of production unknown] (Or. 6833 = Hebr. 225).