700-year-old machzor listed for auction

Sotheby’s is putting a 700-year-old Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayer book up for auction for $4 million (£2.9m).

The Luzzatto High Holiday Machzor is the oldest Hebrew prayer book to be sold. The seller is the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Paris-based Jewish organisation, which will use the proceeds for education and scholarships.

Named for one of its owners, the Luzzatto machzor was written and illuminated in southern Germany around the late 13th or early 14th century by a Jewish scribe and artist named Abraham, according to Sotheby’s. It was then passed through Jewish communities in France and Italy.

Different owners wrote notes in the margins and amended the text based on their customs.