Prayer book according to the meditations (Kavanoth ) of Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ari Zal). Edited by Rabbi Meir Poppers

(LITURGY).

Germany-Poland

Early 17th Century

Aschkenazi cursive and square scripts. Marginal notations in various hands. Brown ink on paper

The Ari Zal's teachings contain important Kabbalistic explanations andKavanoth on prayer. He did not however compose them in the order of the prayer book. The next generation of Kabbalists prepared and edited these Kavanoth together with the text of the prayers. One of the most important of these Kabbalistic Siddurim is the version edited by R. Meir Poppers known as the "Or Pnei Melech." The rescension of R. Meir Popper's siddur is found in a number of manuscripts. However due to the multitude of Kavanoth, siddurim varied depending on Kabbalist used the siddur and which Kavanoth he chose to utilize. This manuscript has similarities to the Siddur Ha-avi published in Lvov 1788 and Koretz 1797 which are also based on R. Meir Popper's rescension. The present was used by a number of Kabbalists who added their own important marginal notations. The Kabbalistic scholar, Prof. Josef Avivi has examined this manuscript and his comprehensive description in Hebrew is appended.