the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources
This project is sustained through reciprocity for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks.
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💬 Purim 2021: From Darkness to Light, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat & Rabbi David Evan Markus (Bayit: Building Jewish, 2021)![]() ![]() ![]() Tropified texts for Purim 2021 juxtaposing the text of Queen Esther with the words of Vice President Kamalla Harris and poet laureate Amanda Gorman. . . . עד דלא ידע | Sources and Meditation Instructions for Not-knowing on Purim, by Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein (Applied Jewish Spirituality 2021)![]() ![]() Sources and meditation instructions excerpted from a larger source sheet on Not-knowing, Joy and Purim, from the Applied Jewish Spirituality “Kabbalah Through the Calendar” course. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A prayer of gratitude upon receiving a COVID vaccination. . . . Trōpifying English and other Latin Script Language Readings with Masoretic Hebrew cantillation marks (t’amim, trōp)![]() ![]() A digital font integrating Masoretic Hebrew cantillation marks in languages presented in Latin scripts. . . . ![]() ![]() A blessing for us and the year ahead from the last month of the Jewish calendar year. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of Ashrei for a shame resilience practice. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the prayer Barukh She’amar for a shame resilience practice. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the first blessing prior to the Shema, Yotser Ohr, for a shame resilience practice. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the second blessing prior to the Shema, the Birkat Ahavah, for a shame resilience practice. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the second blessing prior to the Shema, the Birkat Ahavah, for a shame resilience practice. . . . בִּרְכָּת גָּאַל יִשְׂרָאֵל | Emet v’Yatsiv, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the blessing following the Shema, the Birkat Ga’al Yisrael, for a shame resilience practice. . . . תפילת העמידה ביום חול | the Weekday Amidah, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the weekday Amidah for a shame resilience practice. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical reflection of the prayer Aleinu for a shame resilience practice . . . ![]() ![]() A creative, interpretive translation of the the Mourner’s Ḳaddish. . . . ![]() ![]() Aleinu, as rewritten in Hebrew and English for Ḥavurat Shalom, Somerville, Massachusetts. . . . Opening Prayer on the Significance of Lincoln’s Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)![]() ![]() ![]() This opening prayer-essay for Lincoln’s Birthday, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951) — as preface to a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. . . . Opening Prayer on the Significance of Washington’s Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)![]() ![]() This opening prayer for Washington’s Birthday, “The Significance of the Day,” as first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951). . . . Closing Prayer for Washington’s Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)![]() ![]() This closing prayer for Washington’s Birthday as first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951). . . . 💬 Iwo Jima Memorial Address at Fifth Marine Division Cemetery, by Rabbi Chaplain Roland B. Gittelsohn (21 March 1945)![]() ![]() ![]() A chaplain’s eulogy over the fallen soldiers of Iwo Jima (also known under the title, “The Highest and Purest Democracy”) . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A civic prayer for the Sabbath occurring during Brotherhood Week (February 19th-28th) in the United States. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A Declaration of Interdependence co-authored during WW II as part of an interfaith Jewish-Christian response to fascism and “to mitigate racial and religious animosity in America.” . . . ![]() ![]() A prayer for those traveling over water on a sea or ocean voyage. . . . ברכת המזון לחול ולשבת | Birkat haMazon for Weekdays and on Shabbat from the Cairo Genizah fragment Or.1080 15.4![]() ![]() A birkat haMazon found in the collection of Cairo Geniza fragments at the University of Cambridge library. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() The mantra-like piyyut “Ēin k-Ēlohēinu,” a praise of God’s attributes and uniqueness featuring incremental repetition, is found in siddurim as far back as the siddur of Rav Amram, and may date back to the Hekhalot literature. Many versions of it have been compiled in different languages, most famously Flory Jagoda (zç”l)’s Judezmo variant “Non como muestro Dyo.” Here the editor has compiled traditional Yiddish and Ladino translations, as well as developed new Aramaic and Arabic translations for this piyyut. The post-piyyut verses used in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic rites have been included. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() An earlier form of the prayer known as Aleinu, as found in the esoteric Jewish literature of the first millennium CE. . . . אָבִינוּ יִתְקַדֵּשׁ | Avinu Yitqadesh, a rabbinic Hebrew translation of the Lord’s Prayer by Shem Tov ibn Shaprut (14th c.)![]() ![]() ![]() A rabbinic Hebrew translation of the “Lord’s Prayer.” . . . מִי כָמֽוֹךָ וְאֵין כָּמֽוֹךָ | Mi Khamokha v’Ein Kamokha, a retelling of Megillat Esther in a piyyut for Shabbat Zakhor by Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi (ca. 11th c.)![]() ![]() ![]() The poem Mi Khamokha v-Ein Khamokha, an epic retelling of the book of Esther in verse, was written for Shabbat Zakhor, the Shabbat before Purim, by the great paytan Yehuda ben Shmuel haLevi. It was originally written as a “geulah,” meant to be inserted into the prayer after the Shema in place of the verse beginning with “A new song…” But later Sephardic poskim ruled that it was forbidden to insert piyyutim into the Shema blessings, so in the communities that recite it today it is generally either read after the Full Kaddish as an introduction to the Torah service, or (for instance, in most Spanish and Portuguese communities) within the verse “Kol atzmotai tomarna” in the Nishmat prayer. Wherever you include it in your service, it’s a beautiful and intricately rhymed piyyut, and surprisingly easy to understand at that. It is presented here in a gender-neutral translation with all the Biblical verses cited, alongside a new translation that preserves the fourfold acrostic, two alphabetical and two authorial. –Isaac Gantwerk Mayer . . . |