Is the siddur a holy text or crib notes for a conversation with God?
• var addthis_pub=”mjl08″;var addthis_options = ‘favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, google, facebook, reddit, live, more’; Rabbi Eliezer said, “One who makes one’s prayers fixed, that person’s prayers are not sincere petitions” (Mishnah Berakhot 4:4) Heedless of R. Eliezer’s comments, or perhaps chastened by the difficulty of regularly drafting new prayers, Jews created fixed texts and structures for prayer that were ultimately drawn together in the siddur, or Jewish prayer book. The word siddur means order; the particular order of Jewish worship was established largely during the first four or five centuries CE, although the components of that worship were drawn from earlier periods and have continued to develop until modern times. The structure for Jewish worship was developed during the Talmudic period. The morning service, which is the most complex of the three daily services, has two main foci: 1) the Shema, a selection of three paragraphs from the Bible (from Deuteronomy 6 and
Related Questions
- If the Catholic Church really honors the Bible as the holy Word of God--if she really wants her members to become familiar with its truth--why in times past did she confiscate and burn so many Bibles?
- Is the siddur a holy text or crib notes for a conversation with God?
- What is the best way to get right with God if I am Jewish?
