Siddur Content 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 Sh'ma, a selection of three paragraphs from the Bible (from Deuteronomy 6 and 11 and Numbers 15) affirming God's unity and surrounded by thematically associated blessings before and following. 2. The Amidah, a series of 7 blessings (on the Sabbath) or 19 blessings (on weekdays) dealing with themes of repentance, sustenance, and the restoration of a messianic, Israelite kingship. Extra blessings are added when celebrating the beginning of a new month and other holidays. Although the forms of the prayer services were laid out during the time of the Talmud, the first real siddur was not written until the ninth century when various Babylonian geonim (Jewish leaders) worked out the actual "canon" of the synagogue service. Even so, differences remained and continued to develop between different communities, especially between Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities. In modern times, different denominations of Judaism have developed their own siddurim. There is a halachic rule that states: “Tadir v’sheino tadir, tadir kodem.” This literally means that when observing a mitzvah that occurs frequently, simultaneously with one that does not occur frequently, the frequent mitzvah wins out. The more prevalent the B’racha, the more respect it is given by putting it first.
Siddur Format 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Barkhu Sh'ma Amidah Torah Service Tahanun Aleinu Kaddish Adon Olam
The earliest parts of Jewish prayer book are the Sh'ma Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") (Deuteronomy 6:4 et seq), and the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), which are in the Torah. A set of eighteen (currently nineteen) blessings called the Shemoneh Esreh or the Amidah (Hebrew, "standing [prayer]"), is traditionally ascribed to the Great Assembly in the time of Ezra, at the end of the Biblical period.
Other Resources www.myjewishlearning.com www.jewishlibraries.com Siddur Sim Shalom Beit Rayim Family Education Steven Greenwood, Facilitator
November 7th, 2010