400 Years Old!
The traveler’s spiritual treasure!
Pocket-Size Traveler’s Siddur. Hanau, 1628
Order of prayers according to German and Polish customs including prayers for weekday, Shabbos and the Three Festivals (without piyutim).
This siddur was printed especially for wayfarers and merchants who traveled regularly to the seasonal fares. It is bound together with the sefer ‘Toras Chatas’ by the Rema edited by Rabbi Pesachya, Av Beis Din of Frankfurt. This was likely done to combine Torah study with prayer.
Printed close to 400 years ago in Hanau, this siddur offers us a wonderful peek into the world of the Jewish merchants of yesteryear, who even while traveling afar to support their families were committed to maintaining their Torah study and daily prayers.
A poetic inscription on the title page details the printer’s objective in publishing this work.
Tefillas Haderech
As a siddur printed primarily for travelers and wayfarers, Tefillas Haderech occupies a prominent place in this siddur. As opposed to the majority of siddurim, which place Tefillas Haderech after Shacharis, this siddur prints it right in the beginning, in the midst of Birkos Hashachar, as stated by the Tur (Ch. 110) and practiced by the Maraham of Rottenberg any day that he set out on a journey.
Given that pocket-size siddurim like these were prone to wear, tear and loss, it is exceedingly rare to find a small siddur of this kind and from this era in such good condition.
Hanau, 1628. Page Count: 10 leaves.
Page Size: 16 cm. Printed in two columns, without nekudos. Title page is magnificently illustrated with images of cherubs and people.
Condition: Margins restored on several pages and slightly cropped, with no damage to text. Antique parchment binding.
Bibliography: For a comprehensive study on the nusach of this siddur and order of the tefillos, see Siddur Hanau 1628, facsimile edition, by Meir Rafeld and Yosef Taburi, Bar Ilan University Press, 1994.
