Machzor Vitry contains decisions and rules concerning religious practise, besides
responsa by
Rashi and other authorities, both contemporary and earlier. The work is cited as early as the 12th century in
Jacob Tam's
Sefer ha-Yashar (No. 620) as having been compiled by Simchah; and the sources from which the compiler took his material—the
Seder Rav Amram, the
Halachot Gedolot, and others—also are mentioned.
Isaac ben Samuel, a grandson of Simchah, also refers to
Machzor Vitry compiled by his grandfather. Various additions were afterward made to this
machzor, a large proportion of which, designated by the letter (= "tosafot"), are by
Isaac ben Dorbolo. The latter often appends his name to such additions; and in one place he says plainly: "These explanations were added by me, Isaac b. Dorbolo; but the following is from the Machzor of R. Simchah of Vitry himself". Other additions are by
Abraham ben Nathan, author of
Ha-Manhig, and are designated by the letters , his initials.
Extant manuscripts of the Machzor Several manuscripts of
Machzor Vitry are extant, the oldest of which, according to
Abraham Berliner is from
Isaac Samuel Reggio, currently in the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America library (NY JTS 8092). It contains
Machzor Vitry proper without any additions. A second manuscript, in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford (Neubauer,
Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 1100), is said to have marginal annotations by
Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, author of the
Sefer ha-Rokeach (Michael,
Or ha-Chayim. No. 1214). The third manuscript is in the
British Library (Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200 and 27,201), and contains still other additions; this manuscript served as basis for S. Hurwitz's edition of
Machzor Vitry published by the
Meḳiẓe Nirdamim Society (Berlin, 1893). The edition is very faulty, as the editor used no critical judgment in his work; instead of the original treatises it contains some from the
Sefer ha-Terumah of
Baruch ben Isaac and from the
Eshkol of
Ravad. A fourth manuscript is in
Parma -
Biblioteca Palatina Parm. 2574 (DeRossi cat. no. 159), which appears to be of similar age to the Reggio manuscript. (mid-12th century), and that there are in fact a corpus of thirteen extant Mahzor Vitry manuscripts. The Klagsbald (MS ex-Sassoon 535), British Library (Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200 and 27,201), JTS (NY JTS 8092), Moscow (Guenzburg 481), and Paris (
AIU H133) manuscripts are digitized and available online. The others are found in libraries. although no particular manuscript is mentioned in the Vilna edition itself. The published edition of
Machzor Vitry also contains a commentary on
Pirkei Avot. This commentary is found in the British Library manuscript, but in neither of the others. It is really a commentary by
Jacob ben Samson, the pupil of Rashi, amplified in the present Machzor. Many midrashic sayings, which are cited as such in
Machzor Vitry, have been preserved in that work alone. Thus the passage cited (p. 332) from the
Midrash Tehillim is no longer found in the present midrash of that name. Likewise there are found in
Machzor Vitry citations from the
Jerusalem Talmud which are lacking in the existing editions of the latter.
Editions Machzor Vitry was published in 1891 by
Mekitze Nirdamim. A new edition, based on Cod. Add. Nos. 27,200-27,201, Sassoon-Klagsbald 535, NY JTS 8092, Ginzberg 481, Bodleian 1100, Bodleian 1101, and Bodleian 1102 was published by Aryeh Goldschmidt between 2003 and 2009. == Footnotes ==