I Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr: un nuovo testo “giudeo-provenzale”

I Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr: un nuovo testo “giudeo-provenzale”
In this essay I present the edition of a new text, which I call Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr (The tales of Esther). This is a Provençal poem written in Hebrew characters about the Story of Esther. Probably, it was sung during the Feast of Pûrîm for the joy of a Jewish community who lived in Salon the Provence at about 1330. The Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr, attested in one extant manuscript (Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense 3140), were already known in bibliography, but they were expected to be one second text of the Roman d’Esther by Crescas de Caylar (Avignon, about 1340). After an introduction where I deal with the contents, the style and the metrical form of the Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr, I try to reconstruct the Judaeo-Provençal Tradition of texts for Pûrîm, comparing the Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr and the Roman d’Esther. I also propose to assign the Ma‛aśēy-’Estēr to Kalonimos ben Kalonimos: he was a Jewish savant living in Salon the Provence at about 1330.