FFOZ Blogs

Category: The Siddur Project

 

The First Sprouting

The Lord has blessed me to have seen and experienced a beautiful act of His creation--renewing in me an understanding of His final redemption. This last Friday night, prior to Sabbath I was praying on our back porch and I remarked to our guest how I was concerned with that the trees were still bear this late in the season. Literally, after a nice rain and within 24 hours, the...
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Birkat HaChammah: The Blessing of the Sun

Tags:  biblical calendar, birkat hachammah, blessings, liturgy, Nisan, prayer, redemption, sun

(image source) See the bottom of this page for free PDF downloads. A certain traditional Jewish ceremony has been in the news and blogs lately, known as Birkat HaChammah, or the Blessing of the Sun. This blessing is recited on an extraordinarily infrequent basis: only once every 28 years! The last time it was recited was 1981, which means that this is the year for the blessing to come...
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By Your Light We Shall See Light

We are privileged to both know and have the ability to study the Torah. Do we understand this to be a privilege? If so, then this perspective should transform our approach to the study of the Torah and how we communicate it to others. The traditional daily morning prayers contain several introductions before getting into the meat of the prayers. One of these introductions is a beautiful reminder of how...
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Siddur Status Update

Tags:  Back Office, Liturgy, Set Time Prayer, Siddur

One of the monumental projects that First Fruits is currently working towards is the publication of a greatly anticipated complete Messianic Siddur. This project has been in full swing now for several years and everyone wants to know how its going and when it will be available. Boaz shares some of these details in this episode of Back Office....
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Hebrew Darth Vader

Last Wednesday my sons and I, Boaz Michael and his son Noach, and another friend took a trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota to see the Star Wars exhibit. I think Boaz came along as a favor for me and his son Noach. As for me, I have been a Star Wars fan since the original movie came out in the late 1970s. A long time ago, I spent...
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Mussaf: The Other Lost Mo'ed

In our parashah this week, we learn about the continual burnt offering. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the people of Israel and say to them, 'My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.' And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male...
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How Good

In this week's parashah, Balak, we find the only line in the traditional Siddur to come from a Gentile. Balaam the prophet was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Jewish people. After multiple unsuccessful attempts at cursing, Balaam finally realized that טוב בעיני ה' לברך את ישראל.Tov be'einei hashem levarech et yisra'el. It pleased the LORD to bless Israel. (Numbers 24:1) (A subtle allusion to this passage...
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Siddur: Unity and Continuity

Shalom! Many people have expressed their excitement about the FFOZ Siddur project and have asked for an status update. Here is what's going on: One of the initial steps was to select our texts. In addition to texts selected from the traditional siddur, we included apostolic passages and important historical texts. The Hebrew text was translated into English. Text in Greek and other languages was translated into Hebrew--the language of...
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Become Familiar With...the Siddur

Tags:  Siddur

As in my last blog on the Mishnah (click here), I am continuing to showcase some of the brand new entries that have been added to our Online Torah Club Dictionary. Thanks to the diligent work of Aaron Eby, the online dictionary contains definitions for many of the core prayers of the Siddur (prayerbook). It is important to know the meaning of what you are praying. Though not an exhaustive...
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Content of the Grace After Meals

Tags:  bible, birkat hamazon, christianity, god, halacha, Jesus, Judaism, religion, Siddur, yeshua

The traditional Jewish prayer of thanks after eating covers much more than food. Learn why! Also, see the end of this post for a new resource coming soon from FFOZ: a foretaste of the FFOZ Siddur! After one eats bread, Jewish teaching instructs that an extensive blessing must be recited, known as the Birkat Hamazon (Blessing of the Nourishment) or commonly in English, Grace After Meals. The exact contents of...
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4th Century Christians Prayed Amidah

Tags:  amidah, anti-semitism, apostles, christianity, god, history, Jesus, Judaism, liturgy, messianic judaism, prayer, religion, yeshua

A Christian fourth century collection of documents known as the Apostolic Constitutions (Didascalia Apostolorum) contains a treatise on prayer with remarkable similarity to the Amidah, the central prayer of Judaism. This is not new news, as scholars have known this for some time. Yet, I find it remarkable. The Apostolic Constitutions include several different ancient texts and show several layers of redaction and interpolation. In the form that we have...
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Yeshua and the Grace After Meals

Tags:  bible, birkat hamazon, blessings, christianity, god, historical jesus, Judaism, messianic, messianic judaism, New Testament, religion, yeshua

In Christian tradition, at least in America, it is common to give thanks before eating. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Even our Master can be found consistently giving thanks before eating, which may have given rise to this Christian custom. While they were eating, Jesus took [some] bread, and after a blessing, He broke [it] and gave [it] to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."...
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First Century Grace After Meals Rediscovered

Tags:  birkat hamazon, blessing, christianity, communion, didache, eucharist, god, grace after meals, Jesus, Judaism, last supper, messianic judaism, religion, Shabbat, Siddur, yeshua

I was putting together the Grace After Meals for the Siddur project and a thought occurred to me: I might as well include the original Grace After Meals from the First Century Apostolic Messianic Jewish Community. Seems like a no-brainer to me! What, you think I'm kidding? No, I'm dead serious. We have it. It comes from an ancient document known as the Διδαχη (Didache) or the Teaching of the...
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"Ashrei" revisited

Tags:  babylon, bible, exile, galut, god, psalms, religion, Tammuz

Remember a while back when I posted on the topic of the difficulty of translating Hebrew to English, and used the term "Ashrei" as a case in point? If you didn't read that one, you can see it here. I was recently translating some of the Grace After Meals. On weekdays, it is common to preface the blessing with Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon" as a reminder of...
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Intro to the Shema (Part III)

Tags:  bible, christianity, god, Jesus, jewish roots, Judaism, messianic judaism, religion, shema, torah, yeshua

The Shema begins with an acknowledgment of God's oneness, followed by a commandment to love Him. I have showed how those two concepts are related and that acknowledgment of God's oneness leads us to love Him. Our text continues by instructing that we must teach God's words repeatedly to our children, and speak of them when we are sitting in our homes, when we are walking on the road, when...
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Intro to the Shema (Part II)

This is the second in a series of posts about the Shema. See this post to read the first part. This series is actually a part of a larger study of the traditional Jewish prayers. When describing the other main sections in the prayer service, I described how they can be compared to sections of the Temple, as if the person who offers the prayers is making a pilgrimage to...
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Intro to the Shema (Part I)

One of the most well-known elements of Jewish prayer is the Shema. The Shema is a core part of the prayer services every day, in the morning and in the evening. The Shema means much more to Judaism than simply a Scripture reading or a daily prayer. It is a summary of faith, mission, and identity all in one. It is often the first verse of the Bible that a...
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Verses of Pruning

In the last few posts on prayer I have been stepping methodically through the morning service. I hope these posts have been helping you gain a perspective on the Jewish system of prayer and on prayer in general. First I gave a broad overview of the daily prayers, showing the basic pattern of the evening (Ma’ariv), morning (Shacharit) and afternoon (Minchah) daily prayer services. Then I focused in on Shacharit...
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The Preliminary Service

In these blog posts on prayer I have been describing the structure of the daily prayer service. I started with a simple overview in my post Navigating the Siddur. I narrowed in a little in another post when I provided a general overview of the structure of the morning prayers. I explained how the prayer services, particularly in the morning prayers, resemble a person's path through the courts of the...
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Shacharit: Entering Through The Veil

In my post entitled Navigating the Siddur I gave a very brief outline of the contents of the daily prayers. Now I would like to narrow in just slightly and examine the morning prayers in more detail. The reason I chose to focus in on the morning prayers is because the morning service is the most substantial. Because there is more content, it is easier to see the pattern and...
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A Prayer Upon Arising

When should one begin the morning prayers? According to Jewish tradition, we begin our prayers sometime after we gain consciousness in the morning, but before we open our eyes. A day in Jewish life begins with a blessing of the Creator, a prayer known as Modeh Ani: I give thanks before You, living and enduring King, that You have returned my soul to me in compassion; great is Your faithfulness....
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Navigating the Siddur

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....
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Our Father as a Jewish Prayer

Plenty of thought, study and interpretation have gone into the passage from the Gospels known as the "Lord's Prayer." Lots of different conclusions have been drawn as to its meaning and message. For those of us who are devoted to Yeshua's words and are familiar with Jewish prayer, it is patently obvious that "Our Father" is a Jewish prayer, and understanding its meaning is only possible in the context of...
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Benefits of the Synagogue Liturgy

In a previous post, I responded to many of the common objections to liturgy. In this post, I would like to focus on some of the benefits of using the synagogue liturgy in worship. Once again, let me state that liturgical prayer and spontaneous personal prayer go hand in hand. While I am currently focusing on the benefits of the synagogue liturgy, spontaneous prayer also has its benefits. Both types...
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Answering Objections to Liturgical Prayer

In this post, I will tackle some of the common objections that people have against using liturgical prayers. To many people from an evangelical or charismatic background, “liturgy” is a bad word. It is considered synonymous with deadness, dryness and non-inspiration. It is often perceived as a box that serves only to prevent the Spirit of God from moving during a service. It is discarded as one of the “traditions...
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The Power of Unity in Prayer

In every area of life, when people join together to accomplish the same goal, their united efforts tend to be much more successful. The same is true of prayer. People sometimes see prayer at set times or prayer from a book as limiting or constraining, but in fact it is exactly the opposite. When we offer up the prayers of Israel at the appointed times of the day, whether we...
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Worship on His Terms

In an earlier post I explained the multifaceted nature of our relationship with God, and how this must manifest itself in a person’s prayer life. I noted that it comes natural to us to approach God as Father, as many of us have been raised knowing how to pray spontaneously and in intimate terms. This type of prayer is essential, and we must never lose it. I mentioned that another...
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אשרי is the man who can read Hebrew

The various translation projects I have undertaken have caused me to realize something important: Hebrew and English are two very, very different languages. It is easy to take our English Bibles for granted – but have you noticed how many versions there are? That is because it is practically impossible to translate thoughts coined in Hebrew into English without diminishing or altering its original sense. Think about it: English and...
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Our Relationships With God

Avinu Malkenu One of the most moving traditional Jewish prayers of all is Avinu Malkenu, which is composed of a list of dozens of petitions that begin with "our Father, our King." This prayer is offered primarily during the time of repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. (On a side note, it is fascinating to me that this prayer was not penned by an individual. It started with just...
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The Amazing Simplicity of Prayer

What an amazing thing prayer is! Our Creator has marvelously woven into the fabric of His universe a way for us to communicate with Him. All we must do is open our mouths and utter a whisper, and our petition ascends before the throne of the eternal God. The Holy One who dwells in eternity has somehow made Himself readily accessible to the contrite and lowly. It's fastastically simple. We...
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Responsibilities & Duties to Pray

I write this entry with thanks to God for His blessings over all the times we presented the seminar, “Knocking on Heaven’s Gates” this summer. Our sessions went well, and the message was very warmly received throughout the US. This was an overwhelming blessing for all of us here at FFOZ because we did not anticipate such a positive response. I typically open the seminar with my own personal testimony...
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