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Shaar HaShamayim - Polish rite, year-round siddur with commentaries, laws and customs, by R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz, author of the Shelah. Amsterdam, [1742]. Second edition.
Explanation of the prayers by the Shelah, mostly according to Kabbalah (based on various books, especially the Ari's writings which he had in manuscript), with an anthology of laws and customs which the publisher, his grandson, compiled from Shnei Luchot HaBrit.
The Shelah wrote his siddur with the intention of printing and disseminating it, as he wrote in his will to his sons: "I thought to compose this holy work, in order to print it and disseminate it over the whole Jewish world, so that I may have a merit and share in all the prayers of the Jewish people". Praying from this siddur bears the special Segulah of the prayer being accepted and not going unanswered. As the Bach wrote in his approbation to the siddur: "We have no doubt that when it become widespread amongst the Jewish people, whoever prays from it will not have his prayer rejected". R. Avraham Yaakov, first Rebbe of Sadigura, mentions this Segulah in his approbation to the third edition of the siddur (Warsaw, 1882): "Siddur Shaar HaShamayim by the holy Shelah, as the renowned scholar, the Bach, testified… there is no doubt that whoever prays from it, his prayer will not be rejected". The holy kabbalist R. Naftali Katz, author of Semichat Chachamim, ascribes this Segulah to the author himself, the Shelah, as he writes: "…order of prayers… from the beginning of the year until the end of the year, arranged and composed by R. Yeshaya Segal author of Shnei Luchot HaBrit, and he was very attached to this siddur, and directed his descendants to publish it, to give the public the privilege of praying in this order, with these Kavanot, and pledged that whoever prays with all his might in this order with those Kavanot, his prayers will not go unanswered. Go out and see how people practice, and the approbations of the great Torah scholars of that generation… R. Yoel Sirkis author of Bayit Chadash, and R. Yaakov Rabbi of Lublin… R. Yom Tov Lipman Heller author of Tosfot Yom Tov… and they all concur that whoever prays with these Kavanot, his prayer will not be rejected".
An early signature (partly deleted) appears on the title page: "…Oppenheim of F.b." (this may be a relative of R. Ber Oppenheim Rabbi of Friedberg and the district, grandfather of R. Ber Oppenheim of Pressburg, author of Mei Be'er).
Two volumes. 28, 304 leaves; 305-568 leaves. 16 cm. Slightly darkened paper. Good-fair condition. Stains. Worming, affecting text in some places. Several leaves (including title page) repaired. New bindings.
Another edition, with German rite piyyutim, was printed concurrently, identical to this edition until leaf 364 (apart from the title page). From leaf 365 onwards (gathering 92), the word "Polish" is printed at the foot of the first leaf of each gathering (and in the parallel edition: "Ashkenaz").