Beit El siddur. Livorno, 1878 [chronogram: “ובריתך”]. Thick siddur, special for the month of Elul, including the prayers and supplications for the days of mercy and Selichot : Shacharit , Vidui HaGadol , Tikkun Chatzot , Selichot and hymns, malkot , hatarat nedarim and more. Along the length of the siddur are stamps, signatures and detailed owners’ notations; Kabbalistic glosses, sacred tearstains and many usage stains, from the tzaddikim of the Abuchatzeira dynasty.
Personal volume of Selichot and prayer book for the month of Elul that belonged to the leading Kabbalist of the generation, the Admo”r Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira, with which he would pour out his heart to Hashem during the most auspicious days of the year, customarily with increased fasting and prayer. This siddur was used for his awesome prayers during the high holiday season, from midnight Tikkun Chatzot to Selichot in the early morning and the Shacharit prayers. After the Baba Sali, this was the property of his son and successor Sidna Baba Meir, about whom rabbinic leaders of the generation attested that had he not passed away in his father’s lifetime, he may have surpassed him in greatness.
The owners’ stamps, the signatures and notations on the leaves this siddur, handwritten by the tzaddikim of the Abuchatzeira family, seem to levitate us a bit above the ground, to a journey beyond space and time, to places where this sacred volume has been in the deserts of Morocco, from Tafilalt to Erfoud and from there to the Land of Israel.
This siddur was printed in 1878, during the Baba Sali’s grandfather’s, the Abir Ya’akov’s lifetime, but the only explicit connection he has to this siddur are his grandson’s, the Baba Sali’s rare owner’s stamps, stamped after the Abir Ya’akov’s passing, in which the Baba Sali states his relationship to his prominent grandfather: “grandson and great-grandson of the Admo”r … Rabbeinu Ya’akov Abuchatzeira ztz”l.” These are two rare and early stamps, similar but not identical, one round and one rectangular. The text of the stamps is: “Hashem’s servant, Yisrael Abuchatzeira, grandson and great-grandson of the Admo”r, crown of our heads, Kabbalist … miracle-worker, the sacred Rabbeinu Ya’akov Abuchatzeira …”
This siddur accompanied the Baba Sali for very many years, from his earliest youth (the siddur was printed twelve years before he was born), through the glory days, when, according to Moroccan tradition, he would sit closed up in the attic together with his son Baba Meir, zealously guarding their eyes, not seeing a living soul, in this way growing and ascending in the tradition of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son.
At a certain stage, the notes in the siddur do not reveal a specific date, but it was when the Baba Sali was at the height of his greatness and already had many disciples, he gave this siddur as a gift to his close disciple and cantor, Rabbi Massoud Malul, who left his mark on the siddur with a respectable owner’s notation [refer to the Hebrew text for the precise wording]. The book
Yisrael Sabba Kaddisha (Jerusalem, 2020; pp 102-3), brings at length how Rabbi Massoud began to serve as the Baba Sali’s
shaliach tzibbur from when they were still in Morocco, as arranged by the Baba Chaki. He served in this role for many years after that.
Yet this was not the last stop in this sacred volume’s journey. The Baba Sali’s son, the most sacred Baba Meir Abuchatzeira, desired this most sacred siddur, with which his sacred ancestors prayed on the high holidays. Who other than Baba Meir knew how to appreciate the great sanctity hidden in these leaves soaked with the tears of the tzaddikim of this dynasty? And who other than he knew the precise history of this sacred volume of
Selichot , who prayed from it and who wrote the Kabbalistic glosses etched in ink on its leaves?
As such, the Baba Meir asked Rabbi Massoud Mallul to exchange this siddur with him for another [unnamed] sefer . Baba Meir was also careful to write this explicitly on the leaves of this siddur, in his hand, underneath Rabbi Massoud’s owner’s signature: “LaHashem HaAretz U’Meloah, he returned from abroad and exchanged this sefer with me for another, signed Meir Abuchatzeira, S”T.”
Kabbalistic glosses along the length of the siddur, most in Oriental script. These glosses are not signed, and which of the dynasty’s tzaddikim wrote them is unclear. There are also usage marks, leafing-through marks and dozens of sacred tearstains from the tzaddikim of the Abuchatzeira dynasty. These are not stains that bedieved can also be considered tears. These are unambiguously clear yellowish teardrops. It is exciting and thrilling to see where the tears are concentrated and increased – like glimpsing the faces of the Kabbalists while reciting Tikkun Chatzot or standing next to them while praying.
For example, in
Tikkun Chatzot , in the psalm
LaMenatzeiach BiNeginot , there are teardrops, and next to it, in
LaMenatzeach B’vo Natan HaNavi , there are again teardrops. Later on in
Tikkun Chatzot , which is customarily read by candlelight, there are tallow-drops. After that, in the first blessings of
Shemoneh Esreh , the leaf is roiling with a mix of various and unusual stains. In the blessing for wisdom and in
Shir shel Yom , there are teardrops, and in the prayers after
Shemoneh Esreh , known by Kabbalists as
Yeridat HaShefa .
It is especially exciting to see at the opening of Vidui HaGadol , where every transgression takes up about half a page, there are again many tearstains, but only by some of the transgressions. There is no doubt that “transgressions” of these tzaddikim, the foundations of the world, are at a higher level than our mitzvahs. It is most chilling to see by which transgressions the tzaddikim’s tears ran like rivers and where the leaf remained clear – where the silence speaks volumes of praise.
This is a rare and sacred siddur the likes of which has never been seen, a siddur used during the most auspicious days of the year, in the month of Elul, over many years, by at least two of the giants of the Abuchatzeira dynasty who sign on it, Sidna Baba Sali and his son Baba Meir. The siddur is full of signatures and notations handwritten by tzaddikim of this dynasty, attesting to their ownership of this siddur, and its great importance. This is aside from the well-known huge segulah concealed in manuscripts by tzaddikim of the generations, especially when they appear on a siddur for prayer and
Selichot , as a segulah for receipt of prayers.
Specifications: 168 leaf, 18 cm.
Fine-very fine condition. Usage marks. Original used binding placed in a magnificent new leather case.
