Obj. ID: 38005
Jewish printed books  Shalom le-'Am, Aleppo, 1896

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Image of Jerusalem and the Western Wall surrounded by Ps.137:5.
The printing press arrived to the Jewish Community in Aleppo surprisingly late, not before the year 1865. This may be due in part to their neighbors' religious beliefs, Islam's view of the printing press, "It would be an act of impiety if the word of God should be squeezed and pressed together; but the true cause was, that great numbers of themselves earned a considerable income by transcribing those books" (Quarterly Review XLI 1829 Page 475). Before the arrival of the printing press in Aleppo, the Jewish Community would send their books mostly to Europe to be printed, in the 16th and 17th century for the most part to Venice, later on to Amsterdam and Constantinople and from the 18th century on, mainly to Livorno, Italy. The first known book to be sent from Aleppo to be printed was the Mahzor Aram Soba, printed in Venice in 1527.

It happened more than once that manuscripts sent to be printed in Europe were lost en-route, so many authors would keep copies of their manuscripts for themselves, before sending them on the long journey to be printed in Europe. The risks and financial burden that it took to get a book sent and printed outside of Aleppo can be seen from the introduction of Hazon Ovadia by R. Ovadia Halevi of Aleppo, printed in Livorno in 1787. He writes how he sold his entire library and put up his home as collateral in order to raise the funds to have his book printed!

In Aleppo itself, there were people whose business it was to arrange for the printing of manuscripts and making copies of the works before they were sent. One such person was Avraham ben Yeshua Sasson, who later on would be the founder of the first Hebrew printing press in Aleppo, which operated under his son, Eliyahu Hai, from 1865-1887. The Sasson’s had procured exclusive rights for printing in Aleppo for 20-years. The ban against other printers continued until 1887, despite the Sassons’ relocation to Jerusalem in 1873.
In 1887, R. Yeshaya Dayan founded a Hebrew printing Press in Aleppo, originally founded as a way to publish his own books. He brought in for this purpose, the printer Haim Pinchas Hakohen from Jerusalem and during the first 3 years of operation produced 6 works. As his press was without a license from the Turkish Government and not censored as required by the law of the land, it was published without mention of the printer or even the place of printing. For fear of informers, the press was closed until 1896 when he was able to obtain the necessary license from the Ottoman Rulers of Syria.
The present book from 1896 is from R. Yeshaya Dayan’s press, his first year of licensed operation. As such, it bears both the city name and the name of the printer.