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Only edition of this kabbilistic work on kavvanot in prayer attributed to R. Joseph Hayyim ben Elijah Al-Hakam (Ben Ish Hai) although other names of leading rabbinic figures are mentioned on the title page. It is described as corrections and the true order of prayers and customs from the giants of the world, from the Sefer Kavvanot of the Ari, which he received from the prophet Elijah and further from the siddur of R. Shalom Sharabi. There is a brief introduction on the verso of the title page and then the text in a single column in rabbinic type.
R. Joseph Hayyim ben Elijah Al-Hakam (Ben Ish Hai, 1833 or 1835–1909), one of the great Sephardic sages, was rabbi in Baghdad. He was the son of R. Elijah al-Hakam and the father of R. Jacob al-Hakam. Born in Baghdad, Ben Ish Hai studied with his maternal uncle, R. David Hai b. Meir. In 1848 he began to study under R. Abdallah Somekh. He succeeded his father (1859) as preacher, a post he held until his death. In 1869 he visited Erez Israel. In 1876 Jacob Obermeier of Vienna, who had come to Baghdad to teach French, insulted R. Joseph Hayyim. The community excommunicated him and compelled him to request the rabbi's pardon. Al-Hakam was renowned as a great halakhic authority who instituted many takkanot. He wrote some 60 works on all aspects of Torah, only a few of which have been published. He is best known for his Ben Ish Hai (1898), homilies blended with halakhah and Kabbalah. This work achieved immense popularity, particularly in Oriental communities, where it is studied extensively and has gone through many editions. His other published works include Ben Yehoyada (1898–1904), five volumes of commentaries to the aggadic portions of the Babylonian Talmud and Rav Pe'alim (1901–12), responsa. He wrote approximately 200 piyyutim and pizmonim, about 50 of which are incorporated in the liturgy of Baghdad Jewry; the rest are still in manuscript.
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והוא תיקונים ונסחאות אמיתיות וסדרים ומנהגים... מלוקטים ומקובצים מספר הכונות של... האר"י [ר' יצחק לוריא]... עוד מסידור... הרש"ש [ר' שלום שרעבי]...
מיוחס לר' יוסף חיים מבגדד. עיין: א' בן יעקב, הרב יוסף חיים מבגדאד, אור יהודה תשמ"ד, עמ' פב, מס' 53א. |
