The Siddur of the Shela

On Shabbos and Yom Tov the Yeshuos Moshe davened from the siddur of the Shela HaKadosh that he had inherited from the Tzemach Tzaddik. He used to say of this siddur, "I remember holding this siddur in front of my zeide during Nishmas. Holy Jews held this siddur in their hands."

Once, when someone tried to hand him a different siddur, the Rebbe pointed toward the Siddur Shela to show that he preferred to daven from it. He turned to the approbations and pointed out what the tzaddik Rav Yoel Sirkis, author of the Bayis Chodosh, the Bach on the Tur, wrote in his haskamah: "I promise that whoever davens from this siddur, his prayers shall not return empty and not remain unanswered."

A chassid who knew the Sulitzer Rebbe of Far Rockaway, zt"l, recalls that when he asked him as a bochur why he davened from the Siddur Shela, the Rebbe showed him the same haskamah of the Bach and pointed out those same holy words.