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With kavod (honor) to “all whose hearts were stirred to share” (kol asher nasa libam, cf. Exodus 36:2-3), this is a searchable index of all liturgists, translators, transcribers, etc. whose work on Jewish prayer, on prayer books, and on public readings is being shared through the Open Siddur Project. After ten years, the total number of project contributors is nearly 800. A little over half have shared their work either directly with the project with an Open Content license, or indirectly by contributing their work into the Public Domain as a contributor to a government publication. Nearly fifty are institutional copyright stewards (operating or defunct for-profit and non-profit entities). The remaining contributors have had their works transcribed from material that has passed into the Public Domain after their deaths. Some transcribed works shared through the Open Siddur project remain unattributed due to unknown authorship. If you find an uncredited or improperly attributed work, please contact us.
To join this community of contributors, please share your work. Making prayers and related religious works available for creative reuse and republication through Open Content licenses is crucial for keeping Jewish culture cross-pollinating, vital, and relevant under the current climate of denominationally identified silos and proprietary-by-default copyright strictures. Prospective contributors should read our Mission Statement, Terms of Use, and Copyleft Policy. The Open Siddur is a non-prescriptive, non-denominational project and invites participation without prejudice towards ethnic heritage, skin color, nationality, belief or non-belief, sex, gender, sexuality or any other consideration.
Dom Pedro II (also with the surname: d'Alcantara; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" (Portuguese: O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza. His father's abrupt abdication and departure to Europe in 1831 left the five-year-old as emperor and led to a grim and lonely childhood and adolescence, obliged to spend his time studying in preparation for rule. His experiences with court intrigues and political disputes during this period greatly affected his later character; he grew into a man with a strong sense of duty and devotion toward his country and his people, yet increasingly resentful of his role as monarch. Pedro II inherited an empire on the verge of disintegration, but he turned Brazil into an emerging power in the international arena. The nation grew to be distinguished from its Hispanic neighbors on account of its political stability, zealously guarded freedom of speech, respect for civil rights, vibrant economic growth, and form of government—a functional representative parliamentary monarchy. Brazil was also victorious in the Platine War, the Uruguayan War, and the Paraguayan War, as well as prevailing in several other international disputes and domestic tensions. Pedro II steadfastly pushed through the abolition of slavery despite opposition from powerful political and economic interests. A savant in his own right, the Emperor established a reputation as a vigorous sponsor of learning, culture, and the sciences, and he won the respect and admiration of people such as Charles Darwin, Victor Hugo, and Friedrich Nietzsche, and was a friend to Richard Wagner, Louis Pasteur, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, among others. There was no desire for a change in the form of government among most Brazilians, but the Emperor was overthrown in a sudden coup d'état that had almost no support outside a clique of military leaders who desired a form of republic headed by a dictator. Pedro II had become weary of emperorship and despaired over the monarchy's future prospects, despite its overwhelming popular support. He did not allow his ouster to be opposed and did not support any attempt to restore the monarchy. He spent the last two years of his life in exile in Europe, living alone on very little money.
Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen (1857-1948) born in Philadelphia, was one of the founders of the Jewish Publication Society of America, and a member of its publication committee. A president of the Young Men's Hebrew Association of Philadelphia, he was also one of the founders and a member of the first board of editors of "The American Hebrew"; and a founder and trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association. He was a member of the board of trustees of Gratz College, Philadelphia, president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society (1898-99), and recorder of the Association of American Physicians.
Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi (Arabic: محمد الدجاني الداودي; born March 19, 1946) is a Palestinian professor and peace activist. Dajani gained international recognition for his work in helping to raise awareness concerning the Holocaust through a variety of media. Dajani has also been active in forming relationships with Jewish and Christian religious leaders and peace activists to spread the Wasatia message of understanding, tolerance, coexistence and brotherhood. Dajani is tackling the ideological roots of extremism. In 2014, he became the center of a controversy when he led a group of students from Al-Quds University to Auschwitz.
Moshe Shmie'el Dascola was a scribe of the 14th and early 15th centuries. We are indebted to him for preserving the medieval Megillat Yehudit.
Meyer (Michael) I. David, "a member of a prominent Baghdadi family from Bombay, was notable among Baghdadi Jews in India for taking an active political interest in Indian independence. He promoted the idea of dominion status as a means for India to achieve self-governance. He met with Gandhi and discussed his idea to establish a Welfare of India League (also referred to as the Good Will Movement and the Progressive League). The league played a critical role in negotiating a compromise after Gandhi was arrested in 1932 and began a hunger strike in protest of British authorities' decision to award the Dalits (the "untouchable" castes) separate electoral representation. Meyer David also addressed Dalit social welfare--considered by Gandhi to be critical in his vision of an independent India--in other contexts. In 1932, David proposed a scheme to start a scholarship fund for Dalit students. He envisioned that higher-caste Hindus would financially support Dalit students; the amount of 500 rupees could cover the higher education of one Dalit student for five years, while half of that could cover high-school education. The idea won Gandhi's approval in addition to that of the All-India Depressed Classes Association, which represented Dalits. The David Scheme, as it came to be known, continued for a few years but ultimately folded when funds could not be successfully solicited from other donors." (from Elizabeth Imber's "A Late Imperial Elite Jewish Politics: Baghdadi Jews in British India and the Political Horizons of Empire and Nation") Later, in 1944 with co-author Dr. Christian Richard, David wrote an anti-fascist "Declaration of Interdependence" which won the interest and attention of the historian, Will Durant and was ultimately read into the Congressional Record.
Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson is the senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. From 2002 through 2013 he served as senior rabbi of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester in Chappaqua, New York, and from 1997 to 2002 as assistant and associate rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, advising that synagogue’s award-winning Social Action Committee. A graduate of Princeton University and ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Davidson’s work has included anti-death penalty advocacy, gay/lesbian inclusion and interfaith dialogue. In 2009, he was honored for his interfaith efforts by the Westchester Jewish Council and the American Jewish Committee, on whose New York board he sits. Rabbi Davidson serves on the board of directors of the Kavod Tzedakah Collective, A Partnership of Faith in New York City. He also is a member of the Hebrew Union College Board of Governors, HUC President’s Rabbinic Council and the Clergy Advisory Board of Interfaith Impact of New York State. He is a past president of both the Westchester Board of Rabbis and the Chappaqua Interfaith Council. From 2001 to 2006, he served as chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Committee on Justice, Peace and Religious Liberties and vice-chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. He also has chaired the Commission’s task force on Israel and world affairs. He is a past board member of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America. Rabbi Davidson holds a Corkin Family Fellowship at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. His articles have appeared in The Jewish Week, Commentary Magazine, The New York Post and The Huffington Post; and he is a contributing writer in Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman’s Prayers of Awe series.
Arthur (Yaakov) Davis, (1846-1906), born Derby. He joined his father's engineering business. A self-taught Hebrew scholar, he published The Hebrew Accents of the Twenty-One Books of the Bible (1892). He also began began a new edition of Hebrew and English Maḥzor, completed after his death by Herbert M. Adler. Davis was also the father of Elsie and Nina Davis (Mrs. Redcliffe Salaman), who translated many of the difficult liturgical poems or piyyutim into non-literal verse. The genus of the idea for the Maḥzor was based on Solomon Schechter, had commented in one of his essays on the need for such an edition. Arthur Davis determined that it should be carried out with the greatest accuracy, both in the Hebrew text and the English version. He enjoyed the co-operation of his daughters and of Israel Zangwill who translated the poems in verse; and of another lay scholar, Herbert Adler, a lawyer nephew of the then Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler, for the prose translation.
Abraham (Vita) de Cologna (25 September 1755 – 24 March 1832) was an Italian-born orator, politician, and religious leader. He is considered to have been one of the first Chief Rabbis of France, following David Sinẓheim and preceding Emmanuel Deutz. As the rabbi of Mantua, Abraham Vita de Cologna was elected as a deputy to the parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, which was ruled in personal union with France under Napoleon I, and in 1806 he served as a member of the Assembly of Jewish Notables in Paris. He was later named vice-president of the Grand Sanhedrin when it was established in 1807. In 1808 he became a member of the Central Consistory of France, and subsequently served as its president from 1812 to 1826. Having presided over the French Central Consistory, he is considered to have been the second Chief Rabbi of France, David Sinẓheim having been the first. He later served as a member of the Consistory of Turin as well.
Caroline de Litchfield Harby (ca.1800-1876), a poet, was associated with her brother Isaac Harby, co-founder of Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina, in his educational work in New York. Several of her hymns are included in the hymn-book of Beth Elohim (1842/1856), and one prayer of hers can be found among the handwritten prayerbooks of the Reformed Society of Israel.
Abraham de Sola (September 18, 1825 – June 5, 1882) was a Canadian Rabbi, author, Orientalist, and scientist. Originating from a large renowned family of Rabbis and scholars, De Sola was recognized as one of the most powerful leaders of a movement for an Orthodox Judaism in North America during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
David de Aaron de Sola or David Aaron de Sola (1796 – 1860) (Hebrew: דוד אהרן די סולה) was a rabbi and author, born in Amsterdam, the son of Aaron de Sola. In 1818, D.A. de Sola was called to London to become one of the ministers of the Bevis Marks Congregation under Haham Raphael Meldola (who would also later become his father-in-law). De Sola's addresses before the Society for the Cultivation of Hebrew Literature led the mahamad (board of directors of the congregation) to appoint him to deliver discourses in the vernacular, and on March 26, 1831, he preached the first sermon in English ever heard within the walls of Bevis Marks Synagogue (all previous ones being spoken in Spanish or Portuguese). His discourses were subsequently published by the mahamad. Of his style, one observer wrote: "Though a scholar and a thinker, yet he...used the most unpedantic terms and assumed a quiet, colloquial manner.
David de Aaron de Sola or David Aaron de Sola (1796 – 1860) (Hebrew: דוד אהרן די סולה) was a rabbi and author, born in Amsterdam, the son of Aaron de Sola. In 1818, D.A. de Sola was called to London to become one of the ministers of the Bevis Marks Congregation under Haham Raphael Meldola (who would also later become his father-in-law). De Sola's addresses before the Society for the Cultivation of Hebrew Literature led the mahamad (board of directors of the congregation) to appoint him to deliver discourses in the vernacular, and on March 26, 1831, he preached the first sermon in English ever heard within the walls of Bevis Marks Synagogue (all previous ones being spoken in Spanish or Portuguese). His discourses were subsequently published by the mahamad. Of his style, one observer wrote: "Though a scholar and a thinker, yet he...used the most unpedantic terms and assumed a quiet, colloquial manner.
Frederick de Sola Mendes (Montego Bay, Jamaica, West Indies, July 8, 1850—1927) was a rabbi, author, and editor.
Joshua de Sola Mendis is the editor of S&P Central, a purely volunteer effort devoted to sharing information, interest and a sense of connection among Spanish & Portuguese Jewish communities around the world -- also known as Western Sephardim. With their special history, minhag, melodies, and cuisine, it is hoped that S&P and related communities will know more of one another and be able to share their knowledge and love of our mutual traditions.
David de Sola Pool (דוד די סולה פול; 1885–1970) was the leading 20th-century Sephardic rabbi in the United States. A scholar, author, and civic leader, he was a world leader of Judaism. Born in London, England, de Sola Pool was descended from an old and renowned family of rabbis and scholars, de Sola, which traces its origins to medieval Spain. His great grandparents were Rabbi (R.) David Aaron de Sola and Rebecca Meldola, his great-great grandfather was Haham Raphael Meldola, a prominent English Rabbi. He was also related to R. Abraham de Sola, R. Henry Pereira Mendes and Dr. Frederick de Sola Mendes. He studied at the University of London. He held a doctorate in ancient languages, summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg. In 1907, de Sola Pool was invited to become the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel — often called the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue — located in New York City, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He served as its rabbi for 63 years.
Rabbi Mendy Deitsch from Brooklyn, New York, is the Director of Chabad of the East Valley, Chandler, Arizona, and is Director of the Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life. He is a graduate of Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Rabbinical Seminary in Brooklyn.
Miriam del Banco (27 June 1858 - 6 November 1931) was a writer, poet, translator, and educator. She was the daughter of Rabbi Max Del Banco (1825-1864), a reform rabbi with a congregation in Evansville, Indiana at the time of his death. Johanna (née Meyer), Miriam's mother, moved to St. Louis and there Miriam began her education in its public schools, displaying remarkable poetic talent. Later she was sent to her uncle at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where she attended the State Normal School. After graduating with honors, she rejoined her mother, who in the mean time had moved to Chicago. There, in 1885, Ms. Del Banco began teaching in the public schools, and from 1889 onward, as the assistant principal at the Von Humboldt School. Later on she served as the principal of the McClellan and Motley schools in Chicago. In 1921, at the age of 63, she earned a PhD from DePaul University. She was a frequent contributor to both the Jewish and general press, having written a large number of poems, both Jewish and secular, and often under the pseudonym, "the Pansy" (after her favorite flower).
Perle Derbaremdiger Peretz (estimated between 1711 and 1771) was the daughter of Malka Peretz and Rabbi Yisroel Peretz. She was the wife of the ḥassidic rebbe, Levi Yitsḥak of Berdichev, z"tl.
Chana Deutsch is a Hungarian translator living in Israel.
Lieba B. Ruth is the nom du rituèle of Lauren W. Deutsch. Her FaceBook page, “Jewish and Solar Holiday Graphics”, has other new approaches to traditions for our time. A former stringer for JTA, she blogs at Trads in Contempo Life. She is an advocate of no less/more than 10 people in any minyan so there can be more minyanim, less building funds.
Uri DeYoung lives in Samaria, Israel.
Dimus Parrhesia Press is an independent print-publishing house dedicated to disseminating new and historical works of Jewish magic and myth, liturgy and theurgy, folklore and fantasy smuggled from across the River Sambatyon. We aim to revive a Jewish literary culture fascinated by fantastic lore and magical praxes.
David Dine Wirtschafter is the chief rabbi of Temple Adath Israel in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Diwan Ashira Project, founded in 2024 by Ephraim Kahn, produces new liturgical poetry (piyyutim). Each poem, inspired by a different biblical heroine, is released in conjunction with the festivals of the annual Jewish calendar. (Project logo designed by Isaac Montagu.)
Avi Dolgin is a Vancouver native and active member of Congregation Or Shalom.
Efrayim Dror (Troche) (Heb: אפרים דרור (טְרוֹכֶה); 1903-1981), born in Warsaw, was a Hebrew translator of musical texts and an Israeli music critic. In 1925, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine. During World War II he translated songs of warriors and anthems of the Allies, which were distributed to the soldiers of the Jewish Brigade. Beginning in the 1940s, he translated songs for the Erets Israel Opera (later the Israeli Opera). In the 1950s, he was also the regular translator of Eitan Lustig, conductor of the Tel Aviv Chamber Choir, translating many books and works performed in the concert hall in seven languages. He was a music critic and a member of the Committee for Musical Terms of the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of Inter-Religious Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology, and Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue, Vancouver. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education (Claremont Graduate University, 1991), Rabbinic Ordination (ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, 2005), and a Graduate Diploma in Spiritual Direction (Vancouver School of Theology, 2010).
William James Durant (November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy." He conceived of philosophy as total perspective or seeing things sub specie totius (i.e. “from the perspective of the whole”)—a phrase inspired by Spinoza's sub specie aeternitatis, roughly meaning "from the perspective of the eternal." He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge, which had grown voluminous and become fragmented into esoteric specialties, and to vitalize it for contemporary application. The Durants were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
Elḥanan ben Netanel Durlacher (1818-1889) was a Jewish publisher in Paris. We know little else about him. If you know, please contact us.
Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani is Librarian of the S. Zalman and Ayala Abramov Library at HUC-JIR's Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem. She was ordained in Jerusalem in 2003 and has served as a Rabbi-educator teaching Talmud and Rabbinic literature in Batei Midrash (education centers) throughout Israel. Tamar earned her Ph.D. in 2018 from HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, where she wrote her dissertation on “Literary Aspects of Rabbinic Attributions in the Babylonian Talmud." She has a B.A. in Yiddish and Jewish Studies from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an M.A. in Talmud and Gender Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a M.A.H.L. and M.Phil. from HUC-JIR. She was born and raised in Kibbutz Rosh-Hanikra and lives in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Aaron Dym (1896-1951) was born in Liska, Galicia and received semikhah from R. Shmuel Engels before emigrating to the United States via England in 1925. In 1926, he began serving as secretary of Degel HaRabonim (the Federation of Orthodox Rabbis of America) and in 1935 was promoted to executive secretary. In New York City, he was rabbi of Linsker Congregation in New York from 1926-1929, Nepolokowitz-Bukowina Congregation from 1930-1939, and beginning in 1941, he led Congregation Sha'arei Torah.
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