Siddur


A Siddur A Week
A Siddur A Week: Unification - Slowly but Surely: The Yachad Shivtei Yisrael Siddur

How multiculturalism is paradoxically allowing for the kind of unification of Jewish prayer that was tried - and failed - before.

Reuven Gafni | 05.04.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: Preserving the “Kanis Bayt al-Usta”: Rabbi Yosef Tzuberi and the Knesset Hagdolah Siddur

How an ancient Yemenite synagogue and local custom was preserved in all its greatness and variety in a siddur.

Reuven Gafni | 29.03.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: Impeccably Precise: The Ish Matzliach Siddur

The story of a siddur meant to be as accurate as possible - which led to fierce disputes about its accuracy.

Reuven Gafni | 22.03.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: A State Prays for Itself: The Israel Defense Forces Siddur, 1952

In this week's column, we discuss a lesser-known part of Rabbi Goren's religious revolution as the first Chief Rabbi of the IDF: the IDF siddur.

Reuven Gafni | 15.03.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: A Yemenite-Socialist Nusach: Yisrael Kessar, the Histadrut, and the Tefilat Shivtei Yisrael siddur

The story of a "red" siddur, in color and politics, which briefly appeared and disappeared as the socialist era in Israel came to an end.

Reuven Gafni | 08.03.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: Just before Rabbi Ovadyah's revolution: the Rinat Yisrael “for Sefardim and Edot Hamizrach”

How and why the revolution brought about by the state-backed Rinat Yisrael siddur was marginalized by the grassroots revolution of Mizrahi Jewry.

Reuven Gafni | 01.03.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: “For Israel and the Land of Their Holy Life”: The Olat Ra’ayah Siddur

With the clouds of war gathering in Europe, a unique siddur partially completed by Rav Kook was rushed out to strengthen the Jewish People. This is its story.

Reuven Gafni | 23.02.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: The siddur as national project: the Mipi Olalim siddur and its story

In the early 1930s, the Zionist movement set to create an educational siddur for its students, to learn to pray in a native tongue and based on local traditions. This is its story.

Reuven Gafni | 16.02.24

A Siddur A Week

A Siddur A Week: The Tefillat Kol Peh Siddur and Its Influence

How large letters and an insistence on fullness rather than minimalism made the Tefillat Kol Peh siddur one of the most enduring prayer books in Israel.

Reuven Gafni | 09.02.24