Siddur Tefillat Yisrael, Sephardic tradition, with laws, piyyutim and bakashot. Jerusalem, 1842. Printed by Rabbi Yisrael Bak. Noted on the title page: The siddur was printed in the Holy City of Jerusalem, in complete holiness and "all who performed the holy task were Jewish".
Many approbations of Sephardic sages from Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron, and of Ashkenazi sages from Jerusalem [Rebbe Aharon Moshe of Brody, Rabbi Yeshaya Bardaki son-in-law of Rabbi Yisrael of Shklow and Rabbi Moshe Rivlin "Doresh L'Zion", the Magid of Shklow]. In their approbation, the Jerusalem rabbis add an "approbation" granting Rabbi Yisrael Bak exclusive rights to print books in Jerusalem.
In his introduction, the printer recounts his travails in the city of Safed: "After all the travails that befell me - pestilence, sword, and hunger…a great earthquake…I was forced to ascend to the 'mountain' and I have established my dwelling here…Jerusalem". He thanks Yosef Amzalag "who assisted me in printing the siddur".
the famous printer Rabbi Yisrael Bak (1792-1874), disciple of Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhyn and Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev. A skilled printer, he established a printing press in Berdychiv and reputedly also designed the Slavita letters for printing. In 1831, he moved to Safed and established his printing press there, but following the 1937 earthquake which destroyed large sections of the city and following the Arab revolt, he moved to Jerusalem where he established his printing press for the third time. It was the first printing press in Jerusalem which produced Hebrew books.
152 leaves. 15 cm. Preserved copy on high-quality paper. Good condition. Worming. New leather binding.
The fourth Hebrew book printed in Jerusalem. See S. HaLevi, Sifrei Yerushalayim HaRishonim, no. 4.