The Open Siddur is a volunteer driven project to create a free resource for folks crafting their own siddur (Jewish prayer book). We intend to collaboratively build an archive of material that makes up . . . → Read More: Welcome Jewish Week Readers!]]> Once again, the Open Siddur Project has been mentioned in the press, this time by Steve Lipman in the Jewish Week.

The Open Siddur is a volunteer driven project to create a free resource for folks crafting their own siddur (Jewish prayer book). We intend to collaboratively build an archive of material that makes up the siddur — texts, translations, instructional material, commentaries, essays, and other associated media. Along with the archive, we are building the software that can be used to put together the building blocks to customize and personalize the siddur. Ultimately, siddurim prepared from this content may be printed on your home printer, by on-demand print shop, or in cooperation with a book artist.

For more about our mission, click here. To see some early technology demos, click here. To learn move about how you can get involved in helping to build the Open Siddur, read on.

By “open,” we mean that our code and our texts are free to take under permissive copyright licenses. We are creating a community of folks passionate about the siddur and who express their passion by contributing material that can be used by others in the preparation of their own siddurim. This material could be historic or new, familiar or obscure. We seek to design a tool that will provide a resource to help those who take Jewish spirituality seriously engage in their own spiritual practice.

If you’d like to help us, take a look at the following opportunities to contribute (below), fill out our survey, or just contact us. (Donations, if you like, can be made to this project via our fiscal sponsor the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity. )

For more details on our development and to get status updates, please fill out our survey. If you’d like to follow our developments closely and participate, then please join our discussion list, friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our development wiki (our current storehouse for documentation and texts).