Bidspirit auction | The Most Foundational Collection of

The Most Foundational Collection of Kabbalistic Prayers: Shaarei Tzion, Shapira Press – Zhitomir, 1849 * A collection of prayers and tikkunim, including Seder Tikkun Chatzos with kabbalistic kavanos and customs, compiled by the kabbalist Rabbi Nosson Neta Hanover. Also included are the Seder Tikkun Seuda and Sefer Yetzirah. At the bottom of the page there is a translation in Yiddish. Shaarei Tzion was widely embraced and became one of the most commonly used prayer books. It was printed in holiness by the three brothers of the Shapira printing family, descendants of the Slavita Rav: Rabbi Chanina Lipa, Rabbi Aryeh Leib, and Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel Shapira. “Every God-fearing person should strive to acquire sefarim from early printing presses, which were for the most part produced by God-fearing individuals, and especially from the Slavita and Zhitomir printings, grandsons of the holy Rav of Koritz, who were printers of supreme holiness” (Taharas HaKodesh by the Shomer Emunim, Ch. 6). Zhitomir, 1849. Page Count : 2, 160 leaves. Size : 19.3 cm. Condition : Overall good; dozens of leaves with tears and light wear along the lower inner margins. Stains and typical signs of use, especially on the first and last leaves. Slight rubbing on the title page. New luxurious leather binding. ------------------- The author, Rabbi Nosson Neta Hanover (d. 1683) , was a disciple of the holy kabbalist Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli. After surviving the Chmielnicki massacres (1648–1649), he settled in Italy, where he met the kabbalist Rabbi Chaim HaKohen of Aleppo, a disciple of Rabbi Chaim Vital (“and from him I received wondrous wisdom”). There, he also met the great kabbalist Rabbi Nosson Shapira, author of Matzas Shimurim, who had brought with him from Jerusalem “bundles upon bundles of the writings of the Arizal.” It was these letters that served as the basis for his sefer Shaarei Tzion (as he describes in his introduction).