Tikunei Zohar. Slavita: R. Moshe Shapira, [1821].

Title page printed in red and black.

An edition intended for those who follow the custom of studying Tikunei HaZohar over the forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Yom Kippur. The chapter headings include references to the daily study schedule.

Gloss on p. 49b (of second sequence).

The Jewish printing press in Slavita (present-day Slavuta, Khmelnytskyi Province, Western Ukraine) operated between 1790 and 1836. The founder of the printing press was the Rabbi of the city, R. Moshe Shapira (1762-1840), son of the renowned R. Pinchas of Korets. Already in his youth, he showed exceptional talent in scribal writing, tracing, carving and etching. His illustrious father encouraged him to develop his talent to master these skills. In the early 1790s, R. Moshe was appointed Rabbi of Slavita, yet he concurrently established his famous printing press, not wishing to utilize Torah as a livelihood. The typeface used in the printing press was fashioned by R. Moshe. Apart from the printing press, he also established workshops for production of the paper and type. A large portion of Slavita's Jews earned their livelihood honorably in one of the many divisions of the printing firm. Slavita books were reputed in the Jewish world for their beauty, splendor and accuracy; as well as for the owner of the press, R. Moshe, who was revered by the great Chassidic leaders. R. Moshe of Slavita was close to the Baal HaTanya, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who commended him: "Exceptional in Torah, fear of G-d is his treasure, of holy descent". Sipurim Nora'im by R. Yaakov Keidner (Lviv, 1875) relates the wondrous account of how the Baal HaTanya assisted R. Moshe in attaining a government license for his printing press.

A special advantage of this printing press was that it only produced sacred books, and its type was never desecrated by secular books. Most of the workers were G-d-fearing Jews. According to a famous Chassidic tradition, the equipment and type were immersed in a mikveh before use (regarding the printing press in Slavita, see [in Hebrew]: Haim Dov Friedberg, History of Printing in Poland, Tel Aviv, 1950, p. 104; Ch. Lieberman, Ohel Rachel, I, New York, 1980, pp. 199-202; Sh.D.B. Levine, History of Chabad in Tsarist Russia, Brooklyn, 2010, p. 61). Chassidic masters especially prized siddurim and books printed in holiness in the Slavita press for prayer and study, especially the Tikunei HaZohar edition, which was meant for those with the custom to study the present book of Tikunim between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur.