Auction 60
Lot 52:
Facsimile siddur from “the Siddur of the Ari called Kol Yaakov”, also called Siddur Rabbi Kopil, used by tzaddikim, admorim, and kabbalists, a facsimile of the Slavita 1804 edition printed in Israel (1972). Very pretty copy.
The binding leaf has a self-dedication praising the book, handwritten and signed by Rabbi Woltuch: “I took this holy siddur, since it is said among us that the Maggid of Zlatchow prayed using it, and through his merit may our prayers be accepted above.”
This holy siddur was used by Rabbi Woltuch, with signs of use and tears among the leaves, including in Kriyat Shma al HaMita, Tekiyat Shofar, the Pesach Haggadah (there are also winestains at the Friday night kiddush page), the Vayiten Lecha prayer of Motzash, Hallel, Channukah candlelighting, and more.
Among the leaves are kvitlach handwritten by rabbeinu, with many kabbalists’ names for prayers (Meir Shalom ben Pricha for a refuah shlema soon; Rabbi Meir Abuhatzira; Yisrael Yaakov ben Isa for a refuah shlema soon; Maran the Baba Bali; Yehuda Zeev ben Golda for a refuah shlema soon; Rabbi Yehuda Zeev Leibowitz; Benzion Moshe Yair ben Malka for a refuah shlema; Rabbi Moshe Yair Weinstock).
There are additional kvitlach with prayers for private individuals and for matters of the klal, and an especially interesting kvitl in which Rav Woltuch expresses his opinion on the peace agreement with Egypt: “May it be God’s will that Anwar Sadat dies in an unnatural way and may his peace be cancelled and all of his plans be cancelled and may the complete Land of Israel remain in the hands of Israel forever and may Jimmy Carter die quickly in an unnatural way and fall into a deep cavern quickly.”
Rabbi Yosef Woltuch was a descendent of Rabbi Yehiel Michal of Zlotchow. In his youth he lived in the Old City of Jerusalem, and every day he would sneak into the Beit El kabbalistic yeshiva, study the ways of the kabbalists, and sleep very little. His minhag was to lay next to the graves of tzaddikim and he merited wonderful visions and sight of the souls of tzaddikim. However, he would take care not to go to Rashbi’s tomb on Lag B’Omer because of the numbers of people who went. It is said that during one of his prayers to bring about the Geulah he merited seeing Rachel Imenu wearing black clothes. Despite his suffering he worked for Hashem with happiness and excitement.
In Iyar 1983 he told a student that if Hashem willed it he would settle in Jerusalem and he went with two students to daven at the graves of tzaddikim in the Galilee. When he left Meron he told them that he didn’t feel well. They continued to the Idra cave to pray, and he told them again that he didn’t feel well. He asked for some soda water, so they repaired to Tzfat to buy him. When Rabbi Yosef finished the blessing over the soda, he fainted, was taken to the hospital in Tzfat, and passed away.
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