Colophon (on verso of the 1st column of text, on a pasted-on reinforcement strip): katavti bi-shenat 282 poh Porṭigal Daṿid Ḥazan.

Colophon (on verso of the 1st column of text, on a pasted-on reinforcement strip): כתבתי בשנת ר״פ״ב פה פורטיגאל דוד חזן.

Hebrew (unvocalized).

Scroll of Esther. The upper and lower edges are irregularly cut, and the vertical measurements vary within about one centimeter.

Scroll on soft smooth leather, written with calligraphic large square characters, copied in Portugal (!?) in 1522. The place-name given in the colophon, which could not, apparently, have any other meaning than either Portugal or Oporto, presents a puzzle. The Jews were expelled from Portugal in 1497, and although the Inquisition was not introduced until 1531, it would have been highly dangerous for a Marrano (or baptized Jew secretly observing the Jewish faith) to have in his possession a scroll like this, much more so to sign it with his name en clair. Yet the writing of the colophon appears to be in the same hand as that of the text. The problem was submitted by Leon Nemoy to Professor Alexander Marx, who professed inability to throw any light on this puzzle.

Megilat Ester

מגילת אסתר