Approbation for a Prayer Book

The great value of prayer is well known. It is formulated in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, and explained further in the words of our rabbis of blessed memory. It is called the service of the heart [see b. Ta‘anit 2b], and it is an obligation upon every Jewish person, man and woman, small and great alike, to pray three times every day, evening, morning, and noon, the prayers of shaḥarit, minḥah, and ‘aravit. The Holy One, blessed be He, desires the prayers of the Jews, as He says: let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice (Song of Songs 2:14). It is known from the words of our rabbis of blessed memory, and explained more fully in halakhic rulings and in books of ethics, that there is an obligation to be precise when praying to enunciate the letters properly and vocalize them correctly in their hard and soft forms, i.e., a hard consonant should not be pronounced like a soft one, nor a soft one like a hard one and, similarly, a stationary sheva vowel should not be pronounced like a mobile one, nor a mobile one like a stationary one, and many other similar matters.

But when we examined the printed prayer books, we found that no single one is similar to any other in its letters and the vocalization, in the hard consonants and soft consonants. All of them differ from each other. Most of the worshipers from the masses of the Jews depend on the printers in matters such as this, and yet those printers have an aversion to the laws of vowels and reproducing hard and soft consonants in print, as they distort all that is right (Micah 3:9).

And behold we have seen that the Lord has aroused the lofty spirit of our teacher and rabbi, Shabbetai bar Isaac Sofer of the holy community of Przemysńl, who has an exceptional reputation for his knowledge of grammar. He has taken it upon himself to remove an obstacle from among our people and to clear the stones from the path that rises to the house of the Lord. For he has cleared the prayer book from all error in the very best manner, both in its letters and their vowels, hard and soft consonants alike, including following the accurate versions that he has found in the most reliable sources, as he mentions at the end of the introduction. He has also written a fine commentary and provided reasons and explanations for every difficult word, regarding its grammar and its meaning. In addition, he explains the rules of grammar in the introduction to the prayer book, to help the reader. We have also seen that he presented a letter written and signed with the imprimatur of many of the great minds of our generation, who endorsed and also provided their recommendations on how to help to print this prayer book, for it provides an important aid. Therefore, we, too, have arisen and are inspired to offer our encouragement to him, and we have given our authorization that this prayer book should be brought to the print shop of his choice. Whoever helps in this good deed will receive assistance from heaven.

The following points should be added to the preceding: since in proofreading the prayer book and its commentary the author, may the Rock preserve him, labored very hard, and he is still involved in more hard work, as he seeks with all his soul and might to get his work published, and these efforts have come at great personal and financial cost, we therefore decree on pain of excommunication that no person in the world, whether in our state or in another state, shall print any prayer book, either small or large, with or without a commentary, from the prayer book that this aforementioned rabbi and teacher of ours will print, with his editing, until our rabbi and teacher has sold all the prayer books that he prints, so as not to injure our aforementioned rabbi and teacher in any way. If, perish the thought, any printer decides to violate this decree of ours, heaven forfend, then from the day of our decree of excommunication, anyone who bears the name of Israel may not buy that prayer book. Anyone who violates this decree, God forbid, will be excommunicated, whereas everyone who heeds our voice, God will hear him. These are the words of those who speak in righteousness and justice for the merit of the masses, today, Monday, 2 days into the month of Second Adar in the year, “may the messiah come” [1617], here in the holy community of Lublin, may the Rock preserve it.

[Attached letters of approbation:]

I departed from my usual practice, and I dared to sign first before the wisest of our rabbis, whose little finger is greater than my waist [see 1 Kings 12:10], since they are all away, and I am here. For as I dwell in the holy community of Przemysńl, I myself saw the great pains of the master, the author, may the Rock preserve him, who meticulously clarified and explained all the precise formulations, and emended the prayer book with attention and effort and great precision, for the merit of the many. Hence, anyone who helps in this good deed will receive a blessing from the Lord.

Behold, I have set out in the footsteps of the first and last ones [medieval and early modern rabbis], to strengthen the hand of the printers who publish the mysteries of wisdom, especially in the matter of printing the aforementioned prayer book, which is on the highest levels, upon which the merit of the masses depends. And therefore I have agreed to issue a severe decree that this prayer book shall not be reprinted for six years, neither in our land and our kingdoms nor in other lands. He who heeds our voice will receive blessings upon his head. The small and young Joel, son of our rabbi and master Samuel of blessed memory, signed on Monday 7 of Second Adar in the year 5376 [1616], here in the holy community of Lublin.

The aforementioned man, he too . . . and a gem of inestimable value . . . and I know him; he is perfect in his ways and he has . . . thus said Alexander ben Moses ha-Kohen of blessed memory Ashkenazi, who is known as Ziskind . . . and thus said Joseph ben R. Mattityahu of blessed memory Delakort.

All the above is correct from God, and it should be done, and I hereby agree to everything stated above because I have read and studied the aforementioned writings and I found that all his words are pleasant to those who understand them. Therefore it is proper to help him in the work of printing, for the benefit of the masses. The merit of the many depends upon it.

A canopy is spread over this righteous, great man. . . .

I, too, heard and saw the lofty level of this author and the great benefit of his aforementioned work. I was acquainted with him in the past and now even more so, and therefore I have signed my name on the top of the scroll in agreement with everything written on the following page.