SIDDUR (DAILY PRAYER BOOK) ACCORDING TO THE SEPHARDIC RITE, JERUSALEM: ISRAEL BEN ABRAHAM [BAK], 1842

The first siddur printed in Jerusalem.

Seder tefillat yisra’el is a Sephardic-rite liturgy containing the texts of the prayers for weekdays, Sabbaths, New Moons, Hanukkah, and Purim, as well as lifecycle events like weddings, circumcisions, ceremonies for the redemption of the firstborn, etc. It was printed with letters from some of the leading Sephardic and Ashkenazic rabbinic luminaries of Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron affirming Bak’s monopoly on printing in Jerusalem. In his introduction, the publisher, Israel Bak, writes of his confidence that “no Accuser will, Heaven forbid, prevent” anyone who prays from this siddur from approaching his Maker, given that it was printed “in a holy place and by holy Jews.” Some of the material included here was taken from the Sefer sefat emet prayer book printed by Bak in Safed in 1832 (see lot 255). Like that work, this volume ends with a concise calendar for the following four years.