Physical Description

Detail Description

Special and unusual Selihot for Yom Kippur. The title page describes these selihot as being for the night and day of Zom Kippur according to the custom of בה"כג (great synagogue ?) after bat ha-Meshorim and the prayers of the Kohen Gadol when he came into the Sanctuary. It further informs that these selihot are not in the Italian Mahzor (nusah Roma), and that it is customary to recite them after the Avodah in the Mussaf service. There are also verses to be recited after Neilah. Seder Selihot was brought to press by the youth Mordecai Nissim in the year “By the blessing בברכת (624 = 1864) of the upright the city is exalted” (Proverbs 11:11). The text follows in large clear vocalized square Hebrew, except for a yehi ratzon in a smaller font and instructions in rabbinic letters. There were numerous societies that said special prayers, often with kabbalistic content, in Mantua.

Originally called the Minhag Romi, later the Italian rite, which with the expansion of Roman Jewry became widely established in Italy and in one or two places overseas and was the parent of the Ashkenazi rite. The formulation of this is associated with the name of R. Menahem b. Solomon b. Isaac (12th cent.), author of the popular Midrash Sekhel Tov. The rite, also called Minhag ha-Lo'azim, is in use in Rome, in the interior of Italy, in a few communities in Salonika and Constantinople, and also in the Italian synagogue in Jerusalem.

Reference

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000183273; EJ