Hello my old friend,

Good to hear this update. But to be truly unifying this should be a siddur that has garnered input from across the spectrum of the Messy Antic movement. I hope this has been the approach of FFOZ in this regard. Otherwise it will just be known as 'FFOZ's Siddur.'

Response:

Hi Steve,

You are exactly right. We have tried our very best to do so, and we will continue to seek as much feedback and support from the Messianic community as we can.

hmm...I'm even more excited about it now! I just hope you have a good cover for it....you've covered all the other - more serious bases - so now I'm just asking for a good quality cover that will withstand being carried around in my bag.

that's my .02

Shalom Aaron,

First of all many thanks for all the work you are putting in this project, this will indeed be a very valuable asset to all of us. At the moment Im using the Artscroll Siddur which also has brief commentaries below the prayers. I know this is a lot of work but would something like this also be included? It may actually be a good thing to do, because most of us want to know what we are praying. Personally I have frequently consulted with people on the forum as to what the meaning was of the certain prayers and their answers always gave me encouragement to go on. I also remember one of your blogs on the Shema, where you explained the reason for praying the Shema and all it entails. That was one of the reasons that I started praying the Shema, because before that I didnt see the significance in praying certain passages. Maybe, again like Artscroll, a brief background to the prayers?
But for now enjoy the Shabbat:D

Daniel

Response:

Daniel,

Yes, we will have running commentary with the prayers. That is essential in my mind, and the perspective of the commentary is one of the main things that will make this siddur uniquely Messianic. You are correct that this is a lot of work, so please pray for us as we develop it.

Peace
Aaron

I am really looking forward to the siddur! I have always been impressed with the quality of FFOZ work, the strong Scriptural scholarship, and the balanced viewpoint. It is my hope and my prayer that this siddur will indeed be widely received by the Messianic community as a whole and become a foundational resource.

On a personal level, I am excited at the opportunity to enrich my own prayer life. The audio CD is a great idea, as I only know a few prayer melodies, and I find that the melodies help me remember the prayers and the Hebrew words.

Aaron, I know you've put a lot of work into this worthy project. Thank you so much!

I hope you guys are going to incorporate or consider some of the Hebrew liturgy of 19th century Jewish believers for your siddur project.

Response

Hi Jorge,

That is our desire, and we have some material we hope to include. However, we have not run across anything particularly appropriate for Shabbat. Your help isolating those liturgical pieces would be appreciated.

Will you be including the kabbalistic inspired prayers into the text or will such things as the opening of the bedtime Shema be included (specifically the concept of transmigration)? Also, the morning blessings, like the one that says "blessed are You for not making me a gentile" cause the majority of us ARE gentiles... And finally, will the section in the Amidah on The Righteous be alter to reflect the fact that we are not "righteous converts" but have been grafted into Israel by way of Messiah?

just some things I've been wondering about... thanks!

Response:

Connie, thanks for your questions. Prayers and readings that present incompatible theology will not be included, (such as the prayer you mentioned), as well as other overtly kabbalistic prayers.

(However, it should be noted that not everything mystical is bad. Some of the prayers contain mystical concepts that are not incompatible with faith in Yeshua, or even that are supported in the apostolic writings. A good example of this is the description of heavenly angelic worship, which can also be seen in the book of Revelation.)

The blessing "for not making me a gentile" is a good example of a blessing that is surrounded by controversy. Controversial prayers will be included but set off with commentary text that will give the reader enough information to decide for himself or herself whether or not to pray it or modify it somehow.

As for the specific blessing "for not making me a gentile," while it is true that many gentiles will use the Siddur, many Jewish people will as well. I personally think that a Jewish person has good reasons to make that blessing, so it should not be left out just because Gentiles will also use the siddur. Gentiles can just skip over it, and offer the really cool alternative blessing that we are including based on an apostolic text.

I don't think the section in the Amidah about the Righteous poses a problem. It does not necessarily identify the category in which the one praying belongs, since it says "and upon the righteous converts AND upon ourselves." Even if you do not see yourself as a righteous convert, they do exist, so it does not pose a problem to ask for them to be blessed. I could see an argument made that an additional category be included in the prayer mentioning those who are "grafted in," but so far no such plan exists.

Peace
Aaron

Thank you for your response, Aaron, to the question about "upon the righteous converts and upon ourselves." It has made see that benediction in a different light.

But at the same time I just have never quite felt at home in that prayer. Perhaps "gerei hatzedek" could be rendered more literally, instead of "convert," as Tim Hegg brings out in "It is Often Said: The Torah is Only for Jews, p.45ff"?

Anyway, thank you so much for all your work and you probably don't need more input with all this stuff than all the great staff over there already.

Many blessings on the project. We do indeed need it.

Aaron Thank you so much for the work you have put into this project. Will gentiles ever learn that they (coming into faith with the Holy One of Israel) do not set the agenda? If we are ever going to unite ourselves with the God described in the Tanakh,we must submit to Him and His ways. I can never understand the attitude of many gentiles who want to drag their ideas into ring without first checking with the written Torah (teachings) of God. Surely the prayers sent up to the Holy One must meet a certain standard. We all learned in our "church experience" the prayers of "babeling". I pray that this new Siddur will teach us sound prayer principles. Thanks for hearing my thoughts. Jack Rabine

Jack Rabine,
That last comment struck a nerve in this 58 years old gentile. I have been a presbyterian, catholic, conservative baptist, garb baptist, fellowship bible, and plymoth brethern, and now Messianic. Praying the same written prayers everyday seems to me to be babeling...praying by wrote memory, reminds me of my 12 Our Fathers and 20 Hail Mary's. Please, help me understand the WHY of our morning, afernoon and evening prayer. I do them, not daily yet, because of the babeling thing. I am obviously missing something significant here.

Jack or DL please respond. Thanks for the insights in advance. Dan

I am excited about the Siddur Project, and curious about the music. I spent almost 20 years working with church music in Germany, and find the "old" tunes have a timeless vitality to them. Will the newly composed music in the new Siddur be "contemporary", "eastern" or old "western" sounding? Will the music be published in written form?

Thanks for your dedication, devotion, and hard work!

Jerry Ringo

Response

Jerry,

Thanks for your excellent question. So far it seems like there is some variety, but effort is being made to connect with various traditions, including the classic Chassidic sound that is well known in American Jewish culture, as well as some ancient Syriac melodies. No plans exist so far to publish the sheet music.

Peace
Aaron

Shalom Aaron,

It is quite a blessing to see someone taking on this much needed resource for our fractured movement. I hope you are open to ideas as well. You could consider amending the 'AL TIRAH' after the ALEYNU to include the Messiahs words "And remember, I will be with you always, yes even until the end of the age". I use this amended form of the AL TIRAH to close out my Shacharit prayers.

My wife and I also are wondering how else can we help you in this project.

Shalom Alechem

Response

Thank you, that is a great idea! I will definitely consider it.

I hope it won't be Ashkenazic-centric. Remember the Sephardim! :o)

Response:

That's part of the difficulty of this project. Our community doesn't merit separate siddurim for each nusach.

So I have tried to glean the best from each of them. Some of the gems of the Sephardi nusach are the references to the Messiah in the Kaddish and in Adon Olam. But I do lean heavily also on the Ashkenazi nusach, partly because between the two (and I realize there are more than those two) it tends to be more concise.

Aaron

**Update**

It just occurred to me to mention that the pronunciation favored by this Siddur in transliteration and recordings will in fact be Sephardic, i.e. "Shabbat," not "Shabbos." Ashkenazi-speakers will also be able to use the Siddur, but they will have to read the actual Hebrew and put up with Sephardi transliterations. So Sefardita, that part at least you will have to your liking.

Aaron,

I'm totally impressed by your siddur project, both by its scope and its depth. I'm surprised that I have not heard about it yet. My congregation, Ruach Israel in Needham, MA, is developing a new siddur, and my friends in the Yachad Network keep exchanging ideas about making our davenning more Messiah-focused (both liturgically and in terms of kavanna). There are experiments with turning the korbanot section into a rememberance of korban ha'Mashiach; creative additions to Aleynu to make it more inclusive; I personally use an alternative Messianic Ahava Rabba that can be sung to the traditional tune; and the Amida can foster both conformity and creativity if we offer Messianic versions of the brachot either as alternatives or as additions (in the tradition of Reform and Reconstructionist siddurim). The Lord's Prayer (in Heb) could be recited after the Amida, in the spirit of the early Messianics who prayed it thrice daily.

Is there any way I could help your project?

Leah