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 The Siddur Project

Navigating the Siddur

By Aaron Eby  | Comments (10) | Posted on February 23, 2007

For people who are not acquainted with the traditional Jewish prayer book, navigating the siddur can be an intimidating task. The key to understanding how to find your way in the siddur is familiarizing yourself with the structure of Jewish prayer.

Of course, Jewish prayer is not limited to the set-time liturgical prayer of the siddur. Private, personal outpouring of the heart is also practiced often in traditional Jewish life.

(One thing that I realized in my study of Jewish prayer is that from a micro to macro level, the structure and sequence of the prayers is highly intentional. Each section and subsection has a logical progression that leads to a goal and an overall message. That makes "customizing" a prayer book for believers a difficult and fearsome task, since inserting the wrong prayer at the wrong place could derail the intended train of thought, thus defeating the purpose of using the traditional form of prayer. It can be done, but it takes education, sensitivity and creativity.)

Building Blocks of Prayer

If you own a complete siddur, you will find that it contains two main sections: weekday prayers and Sabbath prayers. While the weekday prayers follow the same general pattern as the Sabbath prayers, there are enough substantial differences to make it well worth it to break it off into its own section. Holidays prayers are similar enough to the Sabbath prayers that they can often be bundled together. Typically, the weekday prayers are listed first because they are prayed more frequently.

Publishers will often make these two sections available in separate volumes: one for weekdays, and one for the Sabbath (and holidays).

So to find your place in the siddur, first ask the question: are you looking for the Sabbath prayers or the weekday prayers? If you are looking for Sabbath prayers in a complete siddur, skip to the back half of the book. If you can't find the section you're looking for, double-check to see if you have a Sabbath siddur, a weekday siddur or a complete siddur (which contains both).

The Daily Prayer Services

The next step is to determine which service you are going to pray. There are three primary prayer services each day:

  • Evening: Ma'ariv
  • Morning: Shacharit
  • Afternoon: Minchah

There is no precise moment at which each service must be prayed. Rather, there is a wide window of opportunity during which each prayer service can offered. Since the prayer times are designed to correspond with the Temple sacrifices, the conventional range of time for each service is based on the laws governing when the sacrifices could be offered. The times are based on the position of the sun in the sky, so they vary depending on a person's location and the season of the year.

Note that I have listed the evening prayers first, because from a Jewish and biblical perspective, a day begins and ends at sunset, not midnight.

The Core Prayers

It is helpful to identify the fundamental sections that form the core of each service. There are two sections comprise the foundation of each time of prayer: the Shema (and associated blessings) and the Amidah.

Shema

The Shema is a reading of three passages of Scripture:

  • Deuteronomy 6:4-9
  • Deuteronomy 11:13-21
  • Numbers 15:37-41

The first verse is the well known declaration: "Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One." After this first line is read, an expression is inserted in a whispered tone: "Blessed is the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever." Then Deuteronomy 6:5-9 and the remaining passages are recited without interruption.

Each time the Shema is read, it is padded with blessings before and after. The content of these blessings varies depending on what service is being offered at the time, but they follow a consistent pattern of themes:

  • A blessing of God as Creator of all
  • A blessing of God's unique love relationship with Israel
  • The Shema Scriptural passages
  • A blessing of God as Redeemer

All four of these components combine together to form the Shema section of the daily prayers. The Shema section is recited twice every day, during the evening and morning services.

Amidah

The Amidah is also known as the Shemoneh Esreh. It was originally comprised of eighteen blessings, but at some point around the first century an additional blessing was inserted, bringing the total to nineteen.

The Amidah is prayed at each of the daily prayer services: evening, morning and afternoon. When it is prayed in the morning and afternoon as a part of a public congregational service, it is first offered by each individual in a whispered tone at their own pace, and then it is repeated aloud by the prayer leader. In the evening, it is only recited in a whisper without being repeated by the prayer leader.

On weekdays, the Amidah follows this pattern:

  • 3 praise blessings
  • 13 (originally 12) petition blessings
  • 3 thanksgiving blessings

On the Sabbath, the central petition blessings are condensed into one blessing that focuses on the sanctity of the Sabbath day, bringing the total number of blessings to seven.

These two sections (the Shema section and the Amidah) make up the core of the daily prayers. They are combined together into this sequence:

  • Evening (Ma'ariv): Shema and Amidah
  • Morning (Shacharit): Shema and Amidah
  • Afternoon (Minchah): Amidah

Torah Service

Another primary component can be added to the mix: the Torah service. This is a ceremony that involves a number of prayers and blessings focused around the public reading of the scheduled weekly section from the Torah. A Torah reading ceremony is performed every Sabbath in the morning and afternoon services. It is also offered on Monday and Thursday mornings, so it will also be found in the weekday section of the siddur.

Mussaf

One last building block, and we have the complete general structure of the prayer book. The Bible instructs that an additional offering must be brought on the Sabbath. Since the prayers are designed to correspond with the sacrifices, a brief additional prayer service is included as well, consisting primarily of the Amidah. This service (and its corresponding sacrifice) is known as Mussaf.

Thus, we can diagram the complete structure of the Siddur in this way:

    Weekday Prayers

    Morning (Shacharit)
    • Shema
    • Amidah (silent and aloud)
    • Torah Service (Mon. and Thu.)
    Afternoon (Minchah)
    • Amidah (silent and aloud)
    Evening (Ma'ariv)
    • Shema
    • Amidah (silent only)

    Sabbath Prayers

    Evening (Ma'ariv)
    • Shema
    • Amidah (silent only)
    Morning (Shacharit)
    • Shema
    • Amidah (silent and aloud)
    • Torah Service
    Additional (Mussaf)
    • Amidah (silent and aloud)
    Afternoon (Minchah)
    • Torah Service
    • Amidah (silent and aloud)

Notice that in the weekday section, the services are usually listed beginning with the morning, but in the Sabbath section, the evening section is listed first. This is for practical reasons. When one wakes in the morning, it is simply natural and intuitive to go to the beginning of the book. Since several weekdays occur in a row, morning-afternoon-evening is still in proper sequence. However, since the Sabbath stands alone, the beginning and end are clearly distinguished, and the only correct order would be evening-morning-afternoon.

If you can comprehend and internalize the overall structure that I diagrammed above, it will make the siddur much easier to navigate and less intimidating to use.

Over the course of time, I hope to take a closer look at each of the services themselves. Understanding their structure and the purpose of each section can really enhance one's appreciation of the traditional form of Jewish prayer.

Aaron Eby
4 Adar 5767

About the Author: Aaron Eby writes for messiah magazine and other FFOZ publications. He is also the author of the forthcoming siddur project, as well as the forthcoming Hebrew lesson DVD.

 

Visitor Comments

Wow!

This is very helpful. Thank you Aaron!

Baruch HaShem!

Paul

Posted by: Paul Dunlap | February 23, 2007 1:27 PM

I was confused by the mention of Mussaf so I went to Wikipedia to clarify. Here is the link for anyone else interested:

About Mussaf

...Rods ;-)

Posted by: Rodney Giles | February 24, 2007 10:09 AM

I finally broke down and bought a siddur. There is a lot going on on those pages! The "backwards" layout is not at all confusing once you get the hang of it. My biggest concern is the length of time needed to get through the morning prayers. Either I'm reallly doing something wrong or it does take a couple of hours to read through the shacharit prayers.

I do encourage anyone like me who is just starting out on this journey to take your time and read through the siddur. It does become less confusing with use.

I find as I read the siddur that I am almost thinking on two levels. The words of prayer that I read do bring to mind private petitions and I find myself able to slip those into the "conversation" with relative ease. The text really does act as an aid to prayer.

Not thrilled about the part where you guys thank G-d for not making you a woman. All explanations aside, that still sounds pretty insulting, especially since we don't get to thank G-d for not making us men.

All-in-all, the siddur is shaping up to be an interesting experience.

MJ,

You're right, if one does all of the morning prayers, it can take a couple hours even at a fast clip.

If that presents an obstacle to saying the prayers, they can be abbreviated. The trick is to learn which prayers are the most important and to build upon those.

The FFOZ Siddur we are working on will hopefully help in that regard. It will offer suggestions as to how to abbreviate the prayers intelligently.

You are not the first person to have a problem with the "who has not made me a woman" line. Several creative solutions have been offered. The FFOZ Siddur will probably inlclude some of those ideas as alternatives.

Peace
Aaron

Posted by: MJ Belko | February 26, 2007 11:04 PM

Thanks for the advice, Aaron. I was really getting bummed out about not being able to do all the morning prayers.

I know it was discussed earlier that the "19th benediction" can be said based on the heart's intent, but I have decided to give it the heave-ho based on this quote I just read in the Encyclopedia Judaica (244):

"A notable factor that had a decisive influence on the Jewish community's rejection of Judeo-Christianity was the introduction in the Eighteen Benedictions of an additional blessing directed against its adherents: 'To apostates let there be no hope if they return not to Thy Torah, and may the Nazarenes and the sectarians perish as in a moment.' (such or something similar was the ancient Erez Israel version)." (Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 9)

It seems to have been revised since ancient times, but I don't know how it ever came to be called a "blessing". Maybe the FFOZ siddur can truly make the 19th a blessing by changing it to express the hope that all who currently reject the Messiah or the Torah will come to faith in the One and submission to the other.

MJ

Posted by: MJ Belko | February 27, 2007 8:33 PM

As a woman who believes in HaMashiach, where "there is neither... male nor female"-- is the Siddur for me? How
IS a woman to pray???

I thank you in advance for your thoughts...

Thanks for your question.

The way I understand the verse you quoted (Gal. 3:28) is in the context of conversion to Judaism and inclusion in the people of God. It shows us that Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free men, males and females are all fully included in the Kingdom.

While this verse assures us that each of these groups are full and equal participants in the Kingdom of God, it does not detail for us what that participation looks like in terms of calling and responsibilities. (I do not believe that this verse means to say that they are identical.)

The passage in Galatians has an interesting correspondence with one famous passage in the Siddur, that blesses God "who has not made me a Gentile...a slave...a woman." Although some people understandably take offense at this passage, most commentators explain that the purpose is to thank God for the specific calling and responsibility for each group.

Other than that one line mentioned above and blessings that apply to mitzvot for men (such as tefillin), the core prayers that men and women pray are the same. You are fully welcomed to pray the Shema and the Amidah, the surrounding blessings and Psalms—practically everything in the Siddur.

The main difference is a woman's obligation to the set times of prayer. It is generally taught that for men, the set times of prayer are obligatory. For women, the general commandment to pray still applies, but the set times of prayer are second in importance to the specific obligations that women have to home and family. However, if the family obligations have been met, it is considered ideal for a woman to pray the regular prayers at the set times, especially morning and afternoon.

Of course, women as well as men can approach God at any time and in one's own words. And at a base minimum, spontaneous prayers are understood to fulfill a woman's obligation to pray every day.

For more information regarding the specific calling of women in prayer from a Jewish perspective, I highly recommend ArtScroll's Women's Siddur. It contains the same prayers as the standard siddur, but also commentary specifically relevant to women and additional prayers for women's needs, such as for finding a husband, for a bride on her wedding day, for a healthy pregnancy and for a woman in labor.

I hope this helps!

Aaron

Posted by: Donna | March 9, 2007 7:06 PM

Hi, Aaron,

Just a quick note to say I did order the "Women's Siddur," and I look forward to receiving it. Thanks for the suggestion.

A blessed Pesach to you and your family.

Posted by: Donna | March 30, 2007 8:39 PM

Aaron,
Currently our congregation in Colorado Springs uses the Torah Resources "Tehillat HaMashaiach" for our Shabbat worship. For most everything else we use the Chabad Siddur "Tehillat Hashem". We are very excited about the upcoming FFOZ Siddur project and will take a serious look at it when it is completed. Do you have a time estimate when both the Shabbat and Festival Siddurs will be ready for purchase?

Thanks much to everyone at FFOZ for the hard work pur into this project.
Jimmy

Jimmy,

At this point the Shabbat siddur is still months away. After this, we will set our hand toward producing a siddur for the weekdays. We do not have a specific plan in mind right now for holiday prayer books.

Peace
Aaron

Posted by: Jimmy | April 12, 2007 11:09 PM

Could you briefly develop the idea that you discussed with MJ regarding "abbreviating" the Shacharit prayers? I ordered an Artscroll siddur several months ago, and wanting to become familiar with the prayers (without wading through all the commentary), I decided to type out the text of the Shacharit service for personal use. It came out to over 18 pages at 8pt type with .25 inch margins - a lot of text! I estimated it would take me almost 3 hours to get through it all, reading at a "prayerful pace". "Surely I'm doing something wrong", I thought...

So,... it really WOULD be helpful if you could help out some of us Gentile newbies... it may be a question that a lot of us have (how to properly abbreviate).

Thanks!

That sounds like a good idea. Perhaps I will dedicate a post to that topic soon.

Peace
Aaron

Posted by: Derek | April 19, 2007 11:01 PM

We were able to hear Boaz's talk on the Shema recently as he passed through Wisconsin. He recommended getting the Women's Siddur for the introduction alone. I have to say it is wonderful. I had read MJs comments before I got the Siddur but after reading the preface and overview I feel absolutely honored to be a woman. I would have no problem praying the prayer they have for women to pray and I completely understand why those prayers are as they are. I have a long way to go working my way through the rest of the book since I don't understand so many things but it is a real blessing. The only thing that is challenging is that the page numbers are different in this book then from the regular Siddur.
Mary Ellen

Posted by: Mary Ellen | June 18, 2007 11:53 PM

Blessings Aaron,
Back in AprilI asked about how the Siddur project was coming along. Do you have any updates on the Siddur.
We are anxious to see it complete.

Response:

Steady progress is being made on the FFOZ Siddur.

Texts from the traditional siddur were selected for inclusion, as well as passages from the Apostolic Writings and important historical texts with which the early community of believers would have been familiar and may have employed in early worship. Care has been taken to include the texts sensitively and intelligently, in a way that preserves and enhances the flow of the traditional prayers. The Hebrew texts have been translated into English, and the texts in Greek and other languages have been translated into Hebrew and into English. The translation is practically complete, although as more ideas arise, more prayers will go through this process before the Siddur is complete. The text was then scoured for its several hundred biblical references, which will appear as footnotes in the printed volume.

The Hebrew text was then compiled and collected from all of the various sources. Some of the text, although it had been translated, had yet to be typed. In the process of compiling the text it was checked for errors as well as consistency with details such as punctuation, vowel markings and other pronunciation aids. The current Hebrew and English texts are now compiled and are going through expert proofreading and review. The texts themselves are now in the hands of some test congregations so that they can be prayed through.

The siddur page design is also being developed. We have innovated some exciting features that are not found in any other siddur. This features will make our siddur uniquely accessible to beginners, while preserving a sense of formality and sanctity. The unusual circumstances of a diglot book with so many unique features result in a complicated and time consuming design process. We have been communicating with printers, sending them samples of books that have similar features. We are now working on details and specifications as to what type of materials and processes should be used. Our new resource in the Mayim Chayim series, “Breaking Bread: In Everything Give Thanks” will employ many of the same features as the siddur, so it will constitute a sort of “first fruits” of the FFOZ Siddur project. It is due to be released in a couple months.

We are also in the process of developing and recording melodies for the prayers that will be released on a companion audio CD. Some of the melodies come from traditional Jewish sources; others need to be created in order to be used with Messianic texts that we have inserted.

Perhaps the biggest tasks that are yet to be accomplished for the FFOZ Siddur are the development of the running commentary and the layout/design process.
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Posted by: Jimmy | November 29, 2007 10:41 PM


We Thank You offers a simple and innovative liturgy for disciples of Yeshua by weaving the ancient meal blessings of Judaism together with recently discovered prayers of the early believers.

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