Unicum: Todah VeKol Zimrah
Rare Remnant from the Gouda (Netherlands) Community
Amsterdam, 1798
A prayer service booklet for the dedication of the Ashkenazi synagogue in the city of Gouda, southwestern Netherlands.
At the beginning, a song is printed for when the Torah scroll arrives under the chuppah, followed by songs for the seven hakafos in the synagogue, where the chazzan recites the prayers and the congregation responds.
To the best of Zaidy’s knowledge, this is the only surviving copy in the world!
This prayer service is not recorded in any of the major bibliographic databases: The Institute for Hebrew Bibliography, Otzar HaSefer HaIvri (Winograd), or Bet Eked Sefarim (Friedberg). It is not listed in the National Library of Israel or the international WorldCat database.
Beyond the rarity of the item itself, it also holds significant historical value as one of the few surviving remnants of this Dutch Jewish community, whose memory has almost been lost!
(To illustrate the scarcity of information on this community, a free-text search for the words "Gouda" or "Dragoi" in the Otzar HaChochma database yields only two relevant results about the community.)
The title page features the community’s elegant emblem: A Star of David, with a harp inside it, and the initials ק, א, ד – standing for "Kehal Ashkenazim Dragoi" – The Ashkenazic Community of Gouda.
Amsterdam, 1798. To the best of Zaidy’s knowledge, this is the only copy in the world.
Page count: 8 leaves.
Size: 20.5 cm.
Condition: Good to fair. Minor restorations to the margins of the pages and reconstruction of missing corners (minor text loss on the last page), stains. Elegant new binding.
