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Lot : 52
Early Siddur HaAr”i! Siddur Mishnas Chassidim. Amsterdam, 1764.
Early Siddur HaAr”i!
Siddur Mishnas Chassidim.
Amsterdam, 1764.
Extremely rare kabbalistic siddur.
Prayer for the entire year following the holy and sacred siddur of the Arizal, complete with proper intentions of prayer by the righteous kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricci.
Siddur Mishnas Chassidim is one of the original versions of Siddur Nusach HaAr”i, and was universally accepted by the progenitors of Chassidus and their congregations. The most famous edition of Siddur HaAr”i which was published in Zolkova in 1781 is based on this siddur Mishnas Chassidim.
This siddur contains the full text of prayer in nusach Ashkenaz with the changes for nusach Sefard inserted in parentheses.
The first edition of Mishnas Chassidim with the siddur was printed in Zolokova in 1744 (only one known copy is believed to exist worldwide). Here, it is printed for the first time in its entirety along with the glosses that were published in Mishnas Chassidim Mahadura Tinyana (Amsterdam, 1742).
Amsterdam, 1764. Endorsement by Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam.
Page count: [4], 230 leaves.
Page size: 20 cm. At the beginning and end, there are Kabbalistic prayers in Ashkenazi handwritten script, including the "Le’shem Yichud" prayers before the Mussaf prayer, before Kiddush Levanah, and more.
Page count: [4], 230 leaves.
Page size: 20 cm. At the beginning and end, there are Kabbalistic prayers in Ashkenazi handwritten script, including the "Le’shem Yichud" prayers before the Mussaf prayer, before Kiddush Levanah, and more.
Condition: Minor restorations on the edges of the title page; light water stains, mainly on the margins, with slight spreading into the text, mostly in the final pages. On page 94, restoration of a few words at the end of several lines. New elegant leather binding with a matching leather case.
Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, No. 421.
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Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricci (1688–1743) was one of the great Kabbalists whose sefarim were accepted by the foremost Torah giants as clear and authoritative guides. He moved to Eretz Yisrael and established his yeshivah and beis midrash in Yerushalayim (which was later the site of the yeshivah of the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh).
The tragic account of his passing is described by his son at the end of the sefer Chazeh Tzion, and here is a summary of his words: In 1741, he traveled to Italy to secure permanent financial support for his yeshivah and to publish his commentary on Tehillim, Chazeh Tzion. On his return journey, as he departed from Modena to Bologna, he was set upon by robbers who murdered him in cold blood after he refused to defile himself by eating forbidden meat.
After his passing, a written dream was found among his belongings from his time in Yerushalayim, in which it was revealed to him that his soul was rooted in the soul of the Tanna Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava, who was also one of the Ten Martyrs.
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The “Mishneh Torah” of the Arizal’s Intentions in Prayer
Rabbi Immanual Chai Ricci writes in the preface to his sefer ‘Chazeh Tzion’: “Hashem has granted me the merit to compile the sefer ‘Mishnas Chassidim’ in which I abridged all that is encompassed in Kisvei HaAr”i z”l, in a clear, concise format, similar to how the Rambam compiled his ‘Mishneh Torah’, so that few [words] encompass a great amount.”
The Admor Rabbi Chaim of Sanz wrote: “All his words are pure… It is fitting to rely upon ‘Mishnas Chassidim’, and especially since the teachings of ‘Mishnas Chassidim’ come from the Arizal and his disciples or the teachings of the great early kabbalists. They are clear, without error, and thus one should not sway from its words.” (Shu”t Divrei Chaim, Even Haezer. Vol. 1 Ch. 101)
The supreme value of ‘Mishnas Chassidim’ is so well-known that even the holy kabbalist, the holy tzaddik of Ziditchov referred to it as ‘Mishneh Torah’ of the wisdom of truth, “for it is the purest of the pure”. (Shu”t Minchas Elazar Vol. 1 Ch.11)
