Born in Damascus, educated in Beirut and London, Dr. Hillel Yaacob Farḥi (1868-1940) was a well-known Cairo physician who treated the poor free of charge. He was also a considerable scholar, grammarian and poet who wrote and translated many books - both religious and secular. Besides his siddur, he published maḥzorim in Arabic for the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well a number of editions of the Passover Haggadah with his own running commentary.