Apart from the daily prayers, this manuscript also contains
kabbalistic commentaries and kavvanot (mystical intentions). In the
kabbalistic school of Safed (Upper Galilee), the mystical aspect of
prayer, as “the vehicle of the soul's mystical ascent to God,”
is of great importance. The authorship of this prayer books is
generally attributed to Isaac ben Solomon Luria (1534–1572). The
manuscript begins with an unfinished title page that contains a
decorative floral border in red, yellow and green, but without any
text. In the ornamental colorful border there is the inscription
“Samuel ha-Kohen, cantor in Broda,” who is either the copyist
or perhaps the person for whom the book was written. The manuscript
was a part of the collection of Naphtali Herz van Biema
(1836-1901), an Amsterdam collector, whose books were auctioned in
1904. Many of these books had previously belonged to his wife's
family of prominent orthodox philanthropists and bibliophiles known
as the Amsterdam Lehren family.
