Obj. ID: 37836  Avodat ha-Kodesh by Chaim Yosef David Azulai, Jerusalem, 1841

This text was prepared by William Gross:

First Sefer Printed in Jerusalem: Avodas Hakodesh of the Chida, Jerusalem 1841

Sefer Avodas Hakodesh by Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (1724-1806), also known as the Chida, including seven treatises with laws, customs, prayers and segulos.This sefer was published in 1841 in Yisrael Bak's printing press and is the very first sefer ever printed in Jerusalem.
The sefer includes an important historic introduction from Beck recounting the history of the printing press in Tzfas, its closure following the Syrian Peasant Revolt, the Damascus affair, and finally the establishment of the Jerusalem press.
Many of the prayers that have made their way into our siddurim and machzorim were instituted by the Chida for the first time in this sefer; such as the well-known segula of saying "Lamnatzeach Binginos" in the shape of a menorah.The sefer includes an illustrated title page. S. HaLevi, First Jerusalem Books No. 1
[4], 111 leaves | 15 cm
This is a compilation of moral treatises by the Chida, Chaim Yosef David Azulai. The first edition was issued in the 1770's in Livorno and has been published in more than 100 editions since then, while this edition of 1841 claims its place in the history of Hebrew printing as stated above.
Several kabbalistic and liturgical works in one volume. R. Hayyim Yoseph David Azulai (known by his Hebrew acronym HIDA, 1724–1806), halakhist, kabbalist, emissary, and bibliographer. The Hida was born in Jerusalem; he was descended on his father's side from a prominent family of rabbis and kabbalists from Spain while his mother was a daughter of Joseph Bialer who had gone to Erez Israel with R. Judah Hasid in 1770. He studied under some of the outstanding Jewish scholars of his age including R. Jonah Navon, R. Isaac ha-Kohen Rapoport, and R. Hayyim ibn Attar. R. Azulai attained early eminence in Jewish studies and was regarded by the Jewry of the Ottoman Empire and of Italy as the leading scholar of his generation. He was highly esteemed, too, by the Jews of Germany, especially after the publication of his works.
Avodat HaKodesh that includes four essays: 'Moreh Ba'Etzba' - Dinim and good customs for the days of the year; 'Tziporen Shamir' - the laws of Tefila, Tefillin, Takanat Ha'Shavim; 'Kesher Godel' - the laws of Tefillin, Tzitzit,Tefila and Berachot; 'Kaf Achat' - with various Segulot. By Rabbi Chaim YosefDavid Azulai (the Chida).
Whereas for more than 2000 years Jerusalem has maintained its spiritual centrality in the Jewish consciousness, its physical centrality was resumed only in the last one hundred years. Hebrew printing in fact existed in a great many places during the first four hundred years of printing history, but it was only in the mid-19th century that Jerusalem joined that fraternity. This change occurred at the hands of Israel Bak, who began his publishing career in 1815 in the Ukrainian city of Berdichev. In 1831 Bak made Aliyah to Safed, in the North of Eretz Israel, re-establishing the city’s Hebrew press after a gap of some 245 years. In 1841,after his press had been destroyed numerous times, he moved to Jerusalem and established the Holy City’s first printing house. The first work to come from that press was the present volume, Avodat ha-Kodesh, a collection of seven small treatises on Halachah, Minhag, and Nuscha’ot of Prayer that was intended to be a guide to the proper and moral behavior of man. Its author, Chaim Yosef David Azulai, was considered by the Jews of the Ottoman Empire and Italy to be the leading Jewish scholar of his generation.
In the books printer’s preface, Bak tells of the misadventures that befell him since his arrival in the Holy Land, his travelling to Alexandria to petition (unsuccessfully) the authorities to restore looted Jewish properties; his learning of the infamous Damascus Affair, and his serving as an intermediary between the beleaguered Jews of Damascus and their savior Sir Moses Montefiore.
Bak continued his pioneering work in Jerusalem, and, with his son following him, printed books and other items for forty years in the Holy City.
The title page of this first print bears a richly ornamented gate motif, containing stylistic elements of both East and the West.
Several kabbalistic and liturgical works in one volume. R. Hayyim Yoseph David Azulai (known by his Hebrew acronym HIDA, 1724–1806), halakhist, kabbalist, emissary, and bibliographer. The Hida was born in Jerusalem; he was descended on his father's side from a prominent family of rabbis and kabbalists from Spain while his mother was a daughter of Joseph Bialer who had gone to Erez Israel with R. Judah Hasid in 1770. He studied under some of the outstanding Jewish scholars of his age including R. Jonah Navon, R. Isaac ha-Kohen Rapoport, and R. Hayyim ibn Attar. R. Azulai attained early eminence in Jewish studies and was regarded by the Jewry of the Ottoman Empire and of Italy as the leading scholar of his generation. He was highly esteemed, too, by the Jews of Germany, especially after the publication of his works.
Israel b. Abraham Bak (1797–1874) was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, into a family of printers. Later he owned a Jewish press in Berdichev, printing about 30 books between 1815 and 1821 when the press closed down. In 1831, after various unsuccessful efforts to reopen the works, he emigrated to Palestine and settled in Safed. There he renewed the tradition of printing Hebrew works, which had come to an end in the last third of the 17th century. During the peasant revolt against Muhammad Ali in 1834 his printing press was destroyed and he was wounded. Later he reopened his press, and also began to work the land on Mount Yarmak (Meron), overlooking Safed. His was the first Jewish farm in Erez Israel in modern times. After the Safed earthquake in 1837 and the Druze revolt in 1838, during which his farm and printing press were destroyed, he moved to Jerusalem. In 1841 he established the first, and for 22 years, the only, Jewish printing press in Jerusalem. One hundred and thirty books were printed on it, making it an important cultural factor in Jerusalem. Bak also published and edited the second Hebrew newspaper in Erez Israel, Havazzelet (1863).