Siddur Ha’Ari [prayer-book with Kabbalistic meditations]

(LITURGY)

Marrakesh (Morocco)

1734

Manuscript in Hebrew, written in a square and semi-cursive Sephardic hand on paper.

Siddur with kavanoth (kabbalistic intentions) according to the mystical school of Yitzchak Luria (the Ariz”l), here arranged by R. Chaim ben Abraham Hakohen of Aleppo, a disciple of R. Chaim Vital. The scribe of this manuscript is Baruch ben Yehudah Lushki. Various prayers are contained, among them are liturgical poems, Sabbath and Festival liturgy and a Passover Hagadah. Also contains marginal notes and interlinear glosses by members of the Marrakech community (Joseph, Yeshaiya Cohen, Israel Benveniste). R. Chaim Hakohen was one of the foremost disciples of R. Chaim Vital and thus third in a direct line of transmission from R. Isaac Luria. His kabbalistic siddur, entitled Sha’arei Rachamim, was first published in Salonika 1741. Although little is known of R. Chaim’s life, he served as rabbi of the community of Aleppo and died in 1655 in Italy, where he had traveled in order to publish his writings. His works include Torath Hacham, a kabbalistic commentary to the Pentateuch (1654); Mekor Chaim, a kabbalistic commentary to Shulchan Aruch (1655); and Migdal David, a kabbalistic commentary to the Book of Ruth (1680). See D. Sutton, Aleppo: City of Scholars (2005), pp. 152-3, no. 161.