Passover was only a few weeks away. Jerusalemites were cleaning their homes for the festival. outside the houses, books which the owners wanted to dispose of, were piling up to be picked up and stored with other Sheimos in the Genizah of a nearby synagogue. A book loving passer-by picked up two volumes and brought them to Rabbi Yosef Avivi.
(Avivi is the author of Binyan Ariel and other books. Though young in years, he is regarded as an authority of the writings of the Ari HaKadosh. His edition of a different version of R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s Messilat Yesharim from a manuscript in the Guenzburg Collection, preserved in the Russian State Library in Moscow, was discussed in this column some time ago.)
Yosef Avivi looked at the books. They were an Ashkenazi Machzor printed in Venice in 1711-1715. There were handwritten notes in between the lines and on the margins of some of the pages.
Examining closely the handwriting in the Machzor, Avivi discovered to his great amazement that it was the script of R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato which he knew so well. He started to read words and lines. Before his eyes sparkled words such as Yihud, Yihud Elyon, Hanhaga, Memshala, Messibot, Hashra’at Kedush and others characteristic of Luzzatto’s Kabbalistic writings. “This was the handwriting of R.M.H. Luzzatto. These were his ideas. There was no doubt that I held in my hands the Machzor Luzzatto used,” Avivi writes.
Luzzatto’s handwritten notes accompany the prayers of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. On the margins of the pages and in between the lines are written comments and Kavanot. In some places Luzzatto put a musical accent above the prayer text. Avivi made a study of Luzzatto’s life and found that Luzzatto served as Sheliach Tzibbur on the High Holidays at Padua’s Ashkenazi congregation. Now it was clear to him that Luzzatto noted in his Machzor the Kavanot he was to have in mind and the tunes he was to sing when standing before the Ammud.
The writing in the mahzor was done by several pens and in various inks, i.e. Luzzatto wrote his notes and comments over a period of years.
Avivi pondered the fate of the Machzor. Though it was old, it was complete. None of its pages was torn. It was on the verge of being hidden away in a Geniza when unexpectedly it was brought to him. “I thanked G-d for having come into the possession of the Machzor and I prayed that I would be privileged to edit and publish Luzzatto’s handwritten comments and notes for the benefit of the students of Luzzatto’s Kabbalistic writings,” Aviv writes.
Avivi’s prayers were accepted. A Jerusalemite, a great student and admirer of Luzzatto’s writings, entrusted Avivi with the editing and publishing of Luzzato’s handwritten comments and notes.
Some time ago, Machzor Ramchal came of the press in Jerusalem. The beautifully printed folio volume – which is distributed by Lichtenstein and Son, Jerusalem booksellers and publishers– include a preface and introduction by Avivi; reproductions of 90 pages of the Machzor, most of which carry handwritten notes by R.M.H. Luzzatto, a separate section, called Perushem Vekavanot, in which are printed Luzzatto’s handwritten comments and notes accompanied by Avivi’s explanations, source references, and allusions to parallels in Luzzato’s writings, and finally a section called Memshala Ukedusha, an exposition by Avivi of some of Luzatto’s Kabbalistic doctrines.
On the page where begins the Mussaf Prayer for Rosh Hashana, Luzzatto wrote a prayer for the Sheliach Tzibbur (for himself) where he says inter alia… “Your holy community has chosen me to approach You.. my heart is pained within me, I am seized by fear and trembling… fortify and strengthen me with the strength of Your Holiness, not for my sake, but for the sake of my people, that the House of Israel not be put to shame because of me… accept my pleading with love and listen to my prayer… grant us a good and sweet year, a year of mercy, redemption and salvation..”
Writing about the Kavanot Luzzatto refers to, Aviv explains that only some of the Kavanot are those of the Ari, the others originated in Luzzatto’s own Kabbalistic conceptions.
The Jewish Press, Friday, Sept. 29, 1995 p. 43