Bidspirit auction | Tzeidah LaDerech – A Miniature

Tzeidah LaDerech – A Miniature Siddur Specially Designed for Travel – Livorno, 1760 * The sefer Tzeidah LaDerech is a small encyclopedic work encompassing all matters related to travel: prayers for wayfarers and those crossing rivers and traveling by sea; segulos and Holy Names for protection; halachos; matters of mussar; and the like. The sefer was printed in an especially small format suitable for travelers, “so that every person may carry it in his pocket.” A rare sefer. Most of the prayers previously appeared in the rare sefer Tefillas HaDerech (Wilhelmsdorf 1722). Here, however, additional new prayers were printed, among them a “Supplication to Eliyahu HaNavi, ” regarding which the publisher writes in his introduction: “…to bring merit to the public I placed within it a supplication, in my own hand, to Eliyahu, which no eye has yet seen… and the merit of Eliyahu shall protect you and save you from every trouble.” At the beginning of the sefer, there is an introduction, in rhymes, by the publisher, Rabbi Yitzchak son of Rabbi Meshulam Finkli, one of the sages of Italy. Many of the segulos and halachos were taken from the sefer Derech Chaim and from the Shelah Hakadosh. Among the segulos is the well-known segulah of carrying a kezayis of afikoman, which is described as “a tried and proven segulah.” In the halachic section, several unusual halachos are mentioned, such as: the prohibition of smuggling items and evading customs — “those who are G-d-fearing and wholesome are exceedingly careful not to endanger themselves by smuggling past customs”; the proper manner of escorting a rav (the greatest in the middle, the more important on his right, and the lesser on his left); the prohibition of traveling in a place where military troops are present, even if one is a shaliach mitzvah; and much more. Livorno, 1760. First edition (reprinted a second time only in recent years). Page Count : [12], 68 leaves. Size : Pocket size, 10.2 cm. Condition : Good. A few stains. Bound in its original vellum binding (with a few holes).