Shaar HaShamayim siddur – prayers for weekdays, Shabbat and festivals, Yotzerot, Passover Haggadah, Piyyutim and Selichot for fast days, Tehillim and Maamadot. With Shaar HaShamayim – a kabbalistic commentary on the prayers, by R. Yeshayah HaLevi Horowitz – the Shlah. Includes an anthology of laws and practices, by the editor and publisher R. Avraham Segal Horowitz of Posen, great-grandson of the author. Amsterdam, [1717]. First edition.

Complete copy containing all parts. Four title pages; on first title page, copper engraving with illustrations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the festivals. Divisional title pages for Tehillim and Maamadot.

The Shlah writes in his introduction to the siddur: "Blessed is G-d… Who guided me on the true path… and brought me to the holy city of Jerusalem in 1622… to the gate where prayers ascend… through the gate of heaven (Shaar HaShamayim)". In the author's will printed at the beginning of the siddur, he adds that he decided to author this work "so that it would be printed and spread throughout the Jewish diaspora, so that I would have merit and a portion in all Jewish prayers".

Most of the prayers in this siddur follow the Ashkenazi rite, apart from some prayers which were printed side by side in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi rite, as the author requested in his will (although the editor and publisher did not in fact follow all the author's textual instructions for the siddur).

Praying from this siddur has the special segulah of the prayer being accepted, as the Bach writes in his approbation to this siddur: "We have no doubt that when it is disseminated throughout the Jewish people, whoever prays from it will not have his prayer go unanswered". This segulah is repeated by Rebbe Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura in his approbation to the third edition of the siddur (Warsaw 1882). The kabbalist R. Naftali Katz, author of Semichat Chachamim, attributes this segulah to the author himself, the Shlah: "He was especially fond of this siddur, and he instructed his descendants to publish it in order to bring merit to the public by praying in this order with those kavanot. And there is a promise on his part that those who follow this order before Him Who hears prayer with all their strength and with those kavanot will not return emptyhanded…".

The Baal HaTanya reputedly followed the kavanot of the Shlah in this siddur for his prayer service during his youth (Beit Rebbe, Berditchev 1902, p. 2, chapter 1).

Complete copy. [5], 4-335; 139; 130; [1], 52 leaves. 21.5 cm. Some browned leaves. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains and dark stains. Wear. Tears and open tears, including open tears to illustrated title page and margins of first and last leaves, slightly affecting title frame, repaired with paper. Open tear to leaf 165, affecting text (torn piece included, detached from leaf). Worming, affecting text, mainly to last leaves, partially repaired with paper filling. Early leather binding, with repairs to spine and new endpaper. Damage to binding.

CB, no. 5808,11.