Mahzor Corfu 345r
Mahzor Corfu 345r
The word “Mahzor,” familiar to most Jews as the term used for the prayer book for the High Holidays, means “cycle.” It can therefore be used to describe a book containing any liturgical cycle. Sometimes the term was also used to describe a text created in codex = book form, as opposed to a traditional Jewish scroll.
Corfu is an island off the west coast of Greece, near the narrow passage between the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Corfu had a small but vibrant Jewish community from the time of Venetian hegemony (14th century) until the Holocaust. In its time, it served as a refuge for Sephardic Jewish refugees.
This page is one of several illustrations of biblical scenes. On it, you can see Jonah praying for salvation while he is being swallowed by the “great fish.”