Manuscript – Tiklal Siddur, with Commentaries by Rabbi Yitzchak Wanneh – Tikunei Shabbat by the Arizal – Yemen, 1663

Manuscript, Yemenite rite Tiklal siddur, prayers for Shabbat and Festivals, with commentaries ("Chiddushin") by R. Yitzchak Wanneh. [Yemen, ca. 1663]. Includes additional leaves from different periods, some from earlier Tiklal siddurim [Yemen, ca. 1606 – ca. 18th century].
Large volume. Neat Yemenite script. The text of the prayers is vocalized (supralinear. Eicha and Shir HaShirim, sublinear), titles with calligraphic ornaments. The "Chiddushin" appear in the margins, written by the same scribe. The margins contain additional notes by other writers.
Various commentaries appear in the margins alongside most of the prayers (entitled "Chiddushin"): Novellae on Halacha and Aggada, with explanations according to Kabbalistic teachings. These passages are attributed to R. Yitzchak Wanneh's commentaries on the Tiklal (named Paamon Zahav). R. Yitzchak Wanneh, leading Yemenite Torah scholar, passed away in 1670, and this siddur is apparently an early copying of his writings, effected in his lifetime.
Prayers for weekdays and Shabbat; "Tikkunei Shabbat Malketa" by the Ari (copying from Tikkunei Shabbat, printed in Krakow ca. 1613); Pirkei Avot with commentaries (including an additional version for chapter six); a seventh chapter of Pirkei Avot (taken from Tractate Derech Eretz Zuta – which is customarily said on the seventh Shabbat before Shavuot, if the first day of Passover falls on Shabbat); prayers for Festivals: for Passover – including the Passover Haggadah with Judeo-Arabic translation; Shavuot – including Azharot; prayers and lamentations for the 9th of Av; prayers for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur; Sukkot – including Hoshanot by R. Saadia Gaon; Chanukah – including Megillat Bnei Chashmona'i; Purim; funeral service; order of Selichot and Maranot (includes Selichot by R. Saadia Gaon and Spanish poets; piyyut of the Temple service by R. Avraham ibn Ezra); indexes of Selichot and Maranot; texts of blessings (laws of Blessings over Mitzvot in Judeo-Arabic) and calculations of leap-years, Moladot and Tekufot. The calendar of Moladot covers the period between 1662-1731. Amongst the leaves, a leaf of a Moladot calendar from an earlier Tiklal was found, beginning in 1605; texts of marriage contracts, divorce and other documents; words of reproof and supplications, texts of Vidui.
The manuscript is lacking the beginning and end. The name of the scribe, Aharon son of Saadia Al-Bichani, appears in the ornamented colophon at the end of the Selichot indexes (p. [163]b): "I will begin writing the order of Blessings with the help of G-d blessed be He, an attempt of my ink and quill – I, the youngest of scribes, Aharon son of Saadia known as Albichani".
Birth and death inscriptions from various periods. At the end of the calculation of Tekufot (p. [184b]), a document appears, recording the sale of the siddur to Hassan Yichye Jamil, from Salam son of Ma'uche Al-Yemeni, in 1736, signed by the witnesses: "Shalem ibn Oded" and "Saadia Aharon…".
[204] leaves, 29.5 cm + approx. 4 handwritten leaves in various sizes (located between the leaves of the book). Several leaves bound out of sequence. Fair condition. Stains and extensive wear. Open tears with loss to text. New binding.