Bidspirit auction | Seder Tefillot “Midei Chodesh BeChodsho”

Seder Tefillot “Midei Chodesh BeChodsho” – Amsterdam, 1772 A Special Prayer Book for the Descendants of the Conversos Returning to Judaism - An important and fascinating prayer book printed for the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam, a community composed largely of descendants of the Conversos who had fled the Iberian Peninsula and openly returned to Judaism after generations of life under Christian coercion. The volume opens with two title pages, including an especially impressive engraved copperplate title page featuring the Binding of Isaac at its center. Above appears the Spanish title: Orden de las oraciones cotidianas en hebraico y romance, and along the margin appears the signature of the artist, A. Santcroos. The book’s most remarkable feature is its complete Spanish translation printed opposite the Hebrew text, page by page. This translation was not merely a convenience but fulfilled a genuine communal need among former Conversos and their descendants. Many had returned to Judaism after generations during which their ancestors had been forbidden to study Hebrew or practice Judaism openly, and consequently no longer possessed sufficient knowledge of the holy tongue to fully understand the prayers. This reality is explicitly addressed in the approbation of Rabbi Solomon Salem, Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam, who explains the necessity of publishing the prayer book in Spanish because “many among us neither know nor understand what emerges from their mouths, ” and asks how they can properly serve God if they do not understand the words of their prayers. The volume thus stands as a moving testament to the efforts of former Converso communities to reclaim their ancestral heritage and rebuild a fully Jewish life. At the beginning of the book appears a dedication by the publisher, Isaac Suiza Britto, to Moses ben Aaron de Pinto, together with an extensive subscribers’ list printed in Spanish. This list constitutes a valuable historical document for the study of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam and reflects the generation of Converso descendants who reestablished Jewish communal life in the city. The siddur contains prayers for weekdays, Sabbaths, New Moons, Chanukah and Purim, as well as Selichot for the month of Elul. A moving survivor of the spiritual revival of Spanish Jewry following the Expulsion from Spain and the Inquisition—a prayer book specifically designed to help returning Conversos and their descendants understand the prayers and gradually reconnect with the world of Jewish tradition. [1], 5, 271 leaves. 17 cm. Very good condition. Minor age staining. Original leather binding with wear and defects to the spine.