SIDDUR (DAILY PRAYER BOOK) ACCORDING TO THE POLISH RITE, AUGSBURG: HAYYIM BAR DAVID SHAHOR, 1532-1533

The larger of only two known copies of one of the earliest siddurim printed in Germany.

Hayyim bar David Shahor (ca. 1490-before 1551), one of the most important European Hebrew printers working outside of Italy, began his publishing career in Prague, where his name appears for the first time in a Seder zemirot u-birkat ha-mazon issued in 1514. Some time after completing his edition of the yotserot (liturgical poems) in Prague in 1526, he and his family relocated to the German city of Oels, where he issued a Pentateuch in 1530. From there his wanderings would take him to the free imperial city of Augsburg, where he would remain until about 1543, and then to Ichenhausen, Heddernheim, and finally Lublin. The Shahor family would continue printing in the latter city long after Hayyim’s death in the person of Kalonymus ben Mordechai Jaffe (d. ca. 1603; see lots 165, 169-172), who married Shahor’s granddaughter, as well as Jaffe’s descendants.

While some Hebrew text had been used in books that had appeared in Augsburg as early as 1509, Shahor’s press, based at the prominent printshop of Silvan Otmar (d. 1540), was the first in the city devoted exclusively to Hebrew publishing. In their short time there, Shahor and his family would issue a range of liturgical works, as well as Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch and Five Scrolls (1533), Rabbi Jacob ben Asher’s Sefer arba‘ah turim (1540), and Rabbi Machir ben Isaac’s Sefer avkat rokhel (1540).

The present siddur for the entire liturgical year, which includes a Passover Haggadah and Pirkei avot, appears to be the second book to have been published at the Shahor press in Augsburg. Its date also makes it the second earliest surviving Jewish prayer book printed in the territory of modern-day Germany (the first seems to have appeared in early 1531, although the date in the colophon is not altogether certain). While, as noted by bibliographic scholar A.M. Habermann, “[a]ll titles from the press of Hayyim Shahor and his publishing house are rare,” copies of this siddur are especially scarce. Neither Habermann nor Mosche N. Rosenfeld was aware of the existence of this imprint when they compiled their bibliographies of books issued by Shahor in Augsburg. Only one other copy of this liturgy has as yet come to light – a fragment comprising a bit less than half the book, held by The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. (There are small differences in vocalization and spelling between the two copies, but their contents and layout are essentially identical.) The present exemplar, nearly complete, is thus the largest known extant copy of this siddur.

It should be further emphasized that prayer books, generally produced in small formats and used by the faithful on a regular basis, are particularly susceptible to the ravages of time. The survival of this copy is likely attributable to its having been housed at a Benedictine abbey (St. Ulrich’s and St. Afra’s Abbey, Augsburg) for a significant part of its history, as is evident from the inscription on the title page and the Latin marginalia scattered throughout. This also meant that, unlike the JTS exemplar, sensitive passages in the present siddur were not expurgated, preserving the text for future generations. (It may be, however, that the folios missing from this copy were removed because they contained material deemed offensive to the Church.)

Given its rarity, excellent state of preservation, and unique place in Jewish printing and liturgical history, this lot is a treasure for scholars and collectors alike.

Contents

pp. [1]-[14]: flyleaves with owners’ marks and shelf marks;

p. 15: title page;

pp. [16]-[264]: prayers for weekdays, Sabbaths, New Moons, Hanukkah, Purim, fast days, Tish‘ah be-Av, and the three pilgrimage festivals;

pp. [216]-221: hatavat halom recited in front of three friends, as well as birkat ha-levanah;

p. [264]: colophon: “Completed today, Friday, 22 Tevet, in the year ‘There the Lord ordained blessing, everlasting life’ [Ps. 133:3] [5293; December 20, 1532]. Printed in the capital Augsburg, in which the fear of God abides at all times, by the printer Hayyim ben David Shahor, may his days be long and good”;

pp. 265-[276]: hallel;

pp. [276]-[280]: tsidduk ha-din and hatavat halom recited during birkat kohanim;

pp. 281-[282]: blessing recited after the reading of the Esther scroll on Purim, followed by the first half of Asher heni;

pp. 283-[334]: Passover Haggadah, beginning part of the way through kiddush;

pp. 335-395: Tractate Avot;

pp. 395-525: prayers for the High Holidays, Sukkot (the hosha‘not), Hoshana Rabbah, and Simhat Torah;

pp. 525-[598]: ma‘arivim for the three pilgrimage festivals;

p. [598]: colophon: “The prayers for the entire year were completed, with the help of He Who sits in praise, today, Thursday, 17 Tammuz, in the year ‘In my distress I called on the Lord’ [Ps. 18:7] [5292; June 20, 1532]. Printed in the city of Augsburg by the printer Hayyim bar David Shahor, may his days be long and good”;

pp. 599-[618]: Ps. 104, 120-134, and 67;

pp. 619-[624]: blank flyleaves.

Provenance

1. “Lib. & Imper. Monast. SS. Udal. & Afra Augusta Vindel.” (p. 15)

2. “Bought from the estate of […] Veitel Kaulla […] by my brother, Zalman Leib […] Friday, 2 Tammuz [5]572 [June 12, 1812] […]” (front flyleaf)

3. Rabbi Saul Silber Library, Hebrew Theological College, Skokie, Ill., “Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Goodman” (annexed bookplate, front flyleaf, p. [618])

Literature

Jonah and Avraham Fraenkel, Tefillut u-piyyut be-mahzor nirenberg (Jerusalem, 2008), 6-7.

Ernst Daniel Goldschmidt (ed.), Mahzor la-yamim ha-nora’im lefi minhagei benei ashkenaz le-kol anafeihem, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Koren, 1970), 131-132.

A.M. Habermann, “Ha-madpis hayyim shahor, beno yitshak va-hatano yosef be-r. yakar: prag, oels, augsburg, ichenhausen, heddernheim, lublin,” Kiryat sefer 31,4 (1955): 483-500, at pp. 491 (no. 8), 495 (no. 16).

Hans-Jörg Künast, “Getruckt zu Augspurg”: Buchdruck und Buchhandel in Augsburg zwischen 1468 und 1555 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1997), 156, 207, 220, 226.

Hans-Jörg Künast, “Hebräisch-jüdischer Buchdruck in Schwaben in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts,” in Rolf Kießling and Sabine Ullmann (eds.), Landjudentum im deutschen Südwesten während der Frühen Neuzeit (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1999), 277-303, at pp. 279-291.

Mosche N. Rosenfeld, Der jüdische Buchdruck in Augsburg in der ersten hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (London: Mosche N. Rosenfeld, 1985), 12-18, 32-33 (nos. 37-38).

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