בעריכת נחמיה גורדון בהתיעצות עם הרב משה דבח ע”פ נוסח ר’ אברהם פירקוביץ שיצא לאור לראשונה בווילנא תרל”א (Edited by Nehemia Gordon in consultation with R’ Moshe Dabah. Based on the Avraham Firkovich Edition, Vilna 1870). Citations from Karaite scholars are shown as “(K.S.)” in the translation and “(ח”מ)” in the liturgy.
“📄 סדור תפילות הקראים | Weekday and Sabbath Prayers based upon the Karaite Prayerbook of Abraham Firkovich (1871/2002)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Nehemia Gordon
Nehemia Gordon holds a Masters Degree in Biblical Studies and a Bachelors Degree in Archaeology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He translated texts contained in The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, was an assistant on the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project coordinated by Emanuel Tov, and worked as a researcher on the Hebrew University Bible Project under the auspices of Shemaryahu Talmon. Gordon has lived in Jerusalem since 1993, is the author of a series of popular books on the history of ancient Judaism and Christianity, and hosts the Hebrew Voices podcast.
Abraham Firkovich
Avraham ben Shmuel Firkovich (1786–1874) was born in Lutsk, Volhynia, then lived in Lithuania, and finally settled in Çufut Qale, Crimea. A famous Karaite writer, archeologist, and collector of ancient manuscripts, Firkovich's chief work was his Abne Zikkaron, containing the texts of inscriptions discovered by him (Wilna, 1872) which is preceded by a lengthy account of his travels to Daghestan.
I downloaded and printed the Karaite Prayerbook and am totally confused. The first six and a half pages were headed, “Weekday Evening Prayer.” Following pages were for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, with nothing designated for Friday. Then more prayers for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then several pages of Weekday Sanctification followed by several pages of text for Saturday night, followed by a Silent Prayer, Spoken Prayer and Imparting Greetings. What are weekdays if not Sunday through Thursday? Are the texts designated for those days in addition to the weekday evening prayer? But more importantly, what about Friday evening, at the onset of Shabbat?
I downloaded and printed the Karaite Prayerbook and am totally confused. The first six and a half pages were headed, “Weekday Evening Prayer.” Following pages were for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, with nothing designated for Friday. Then more prayers for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then several pages of Weekday Sanctification followed by several pages of text for Saturday night, followed by a Silent Prayer, Spoken Prayer and Imparting Greetings. What are weekdays if not Sunday through Thursday? Are the texts designated for those days in addition to the weekday evening prayer? But more importantly, what about Friday evening, at the onset of Shabbat?
If you’re looking at this PDF, Sabbath evening prayers (a/k/a Friday evening, onset of sabbath) begin at the bottom of page 44.
If you’re looking at the webpage, the contents of the siddur are organized in tabbed groupings.