Physical Description |
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228 ff., 193:158 mm., each page encased in plastic with chemical treatment to prevent further deterioration of acidic ink, wide margins, black ink on paper, beautiful Ashkenazic script, bound in modern full leather with matching slipcase. Approximately half of the siddur is illegible due to the acidification of the ink. |
Detailed Description |
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Daily kabbalistic prayerbook based on the kabbalistic siddur composed by R. Meir Poppers based on Lurianic kabbalah. R. Poppers composed his version of the Kabbalistic prayerbook in 1654.
R. Meir b. Judah Loeb ha-Kohen Poppers (d. 1662), kabbalist of Ashkenazi descent who was active in Jerusalem after 1640. A pupil of R. Jacob Zemah, he became the last editor of the Lurianic writings. He divided the mass of R. Hayyim Vital's different versions of R. Luria's teachings into three parts, Derekh Ez Hayyim, Peri Ez Hayyim, and Nof Ez Hayyim. R. Poppers' version became the one in most widespread use in Poland and Germany. After 1640 he composed a large number of his own kabbalistical writings in the vein of Lurianic Kabbalah. They are said to have comprised 39 books, each of which contained the word or ("light") in its title, the entire corpus being called Kokhevei Or. Several parts have been preserved (Ms. Jerusalem no. 101, Ms. R. Alter of Gur (no. 170). They included commentaries on Sefer Bahir, on Nahmanides' Torah commentary, on the Zohar, and on R. Luria's writings according to his own edition (Ms. Jerusalem no. 102). In the latter manuscript R. Poppers reports that he had studied Luria's writings for 17 years. Only two of these books have been published: Or Zaddikim (Hamburg, 1690), written in Jerusalem in 1643, and later incorporated in R. Moses Katz's compilation, Or ha-Yashar (Amsterdam, 1709); and Me'orei Or, a dictionary of kabbalistic symbolism, published with copious notes by R. Jacob Vilna and R. Nathan Neta Mannheim under the title Me'orot Natan (Frankfort, 1709). In addition, Mesillot Hokhmah, a booklet summarizing Lurianic metaphysics in 32 paragraphs, later published under R. Poppers' name (Shklov, 1785), was first printed anonymously (Wandsbeck, c. 1700). Part of his homilies on the Torah were published as Tal Orot (1911).
He mentions as his teachers one R. Israel Ashkenazi and his father-in-law, R. Azariah Ze'evi (probably from Hebron). During the 1650s R. Poppers spent about two years in Constantinople. He passed on in Jerusalem. |