Obj. ID: 40227 Chukat Olam by Shlomo Moussaieff, Jerusalem, 1893
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This text was prepared by William Gross:
Weekday prayerbook by R. Shlomo Moussaieff, based on the nusach of the Arizal. R. Shlomo Moussaieff (1852 - 1922), was a rabbi and gemstone trader born Bukhara in 1852. In 1888 he made aliyah and was one of several Bukharan Jews who founded the Bukharim neighborhood in Jerusalem in 1891. R' Moussaieff was also a collector of rare religious texts and manuscripts of Maimonides and Rabbi Haim Vital. This collection is currently housed in a special collection in the Bar Ilan University library.
In the present prayer book R'` Moussaieff described his motivation in moving to Jerusalem and his religious conviction:
"I, Shlomo Moussaieff, native of Bukhara. My spirit moved me to leave the land of my birth, in which I grew up, and to ascend to the Holy Land, the land in which our ancestors dwelled in happiness, the land whose memory passes before us ten times each day in our prayers...We do not have any festive occasion without a memorial to Jerusalem....There is no doubt that I am required to thank God for all the good he has done for me. He has brought me across the sea three times. He has kept me alive, and has brought me to the place of my desire for the good life and peace to see the pleasantness of God and to visit his sanctuary. If the temple was standing, I would bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Now because of our sins there is no temple and no priest to bring the sacrifice. Therefore I had the idea to help the many and publish these prayer books for the weekdays and Sabbath and holidays. Prayer is a substitute for sacrifice. Prayer to God is what connects Israel to their Father in Heaven, although the Israelite nation has been vanquished in exile for more than eighteen hundred years".