Many of our best times are spent eating. Jewish liturgy, however, is very stingy on blessings before eating (focusing much of its energy on blessings after eating). The blessings before food are generic, and except for very specific foods and drinks (such as wine, bread, and matzah), all foods lump into three or four categories (fruit, vegetables, grains, and everything else). As a foodie, I’d like to celebrate each and every distinct taste through the prism of Jewish experience, and thus have tried to compose as many short poems as possible in their honor.

From [the Holy One’s] form/to’ar the constellations are shimmering, and God’s form projects the exalted ones. And Her crown blazes [with] the mighty, and His garment flows with the precious. And all the trees will rejoice in the word, and the plants will exult in His rejoicing, and His words shall drop as perfumes, flowing forth flames of fire, giving joy to those who search them, and quiet to those who fulfill them.

Ḥazal, — some of our Jewish Sages, May Their Memory Be For A Blessing — suggest that ‘simanah milsah‘ — a symbol has significance.

Some of the teachers of Jewish tradition encourage us on Rosh HaShanah to partake of a variety of foods suggestive of prosperity and happiness. This usage is alluded to in the directive of the prophet Nechemiah to the assembly: ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet …” (Nechemiah 8:10). Our kavvanoth — sacred intentions — are that these Symbolic Foods Of Life are to help us effect a good coming year.

A four worlds, neo-ḥasidic haggadah for the Seder Tu BiShvat

A haggadah shared by Michael Plotke that he made for his family many years ago based on the haggadah of the late Rebbe of ḤaBaD, R’ Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

A UNESCO sponsored booklet of prayers submitted by religious leaders from around the world participating in the Elijah Interfaith Institute.

There are many illustrated siddurim for children. This Illustrated Kabbalat Shabbat Siddur is an illustrated siddur (in Hebrew) for grownups. The purpose of this siddur is to inspire us during prayer, to help us create and maintain Kavana. I chose to create this siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, since usually at Kabbalat Shabbat we are more relaxed and open. The siddur has all that is needed (Nusaḥ Sefarad) for the Friday night prayers (Minḥah, Kabbalat Shabbat, and Arvit). The drawings accompany Kabbalat Shabbat.

As חז”ל [Ḥazal] taught us, on ראש השנה [Rosh Hashanah] we elevate puns from the lowest form of humor to the highest religious experience. The foods suggested by our Sages had names in Aramaic or Hebrew that symbolized hopes for the new year — here is a list of foods with English names for those of us for whom English is our vernacular.

The prayer/songsheet used for the Avodat Lev dawn prayer service of the farmers in the Adamah Fellowship on the campus of the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut.

A Passover Haggadah compiled by Jewish Boston and the Jewish Women’s Archive containing numerous haggadah supplements.

An authentic siddur of Ashkenazic holy congregations without the changes made by later grammarians and maskilim, prepared by Rabbi Rallis Wiesenthal according to the minhag of Bad Homburg.

A haggadah for the Pesaḥ seder with an Esperanto translation.

We are grateful to the Vilna Shul in Boston and their Ḥavurah on the Hill program for preparing “Siddur on the Hill,” (2011) a beautiful siddur for Shabbat Friday night services and sharing it with free-culture compatible, open content licensing. The siddur includes original translations in English from Rabbi Sam Seicol, interpretive writings by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, and illustrations by Georgi Vogel Rosen, as well as contributions from numerous others. Thank you for sharing your siddur, open source!

The Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Passover seder haggadah set side-by-side with an English translation by Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein.

A sabbath Supplement to Reb Zalman’s Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi ~ As I Can Say It (for Praying in the Vernacular) (2009).

If you are not used to reading Hebrew with comprehension and with the ability to dilate the Hebrew from the literal meaning, or if you cannot read Hebrew and need a resource for daily davvenen, I offer you this set of texts, which I, too, use frequently for myself.

I translated the Psalms and the liturgy in the way in which I experience them in my feeling consciousness. This does not offer the ‘pshat’, the literal meaning of the words, but the devotional interpretation that can make it a prayer of the heart.

With gratitude to the One True God, and to the original creators, this is a derivation of the “Battlestar Seder Haggadah” prepared by David “Razor” Lieberman, Alison “Fat Six” Ogden, and Mary “Actual” Bruch, for “A Seder on Battlestar Galactica,” an event held on Saturday, 26 April 2008, on Earth. The seder was first posted to galacticahaggadah.com and later to battlestarseder.org under a GNU Free Document License. Both of these domains having gone to ruin, the Haggadah was thankfully preserved on the Wayback Machine thanks to the Internet Archives. I resurrected the Haggadah, adding the following: 1) alternate blessings for crypto-Cylons, 2) संस्कृतम् sourcetext in Sanskrit script along with annotation indicating the source of the prayer/mantra included, 3) a short prayer that Priestess Elosha recites at the very beginning of the funeral scene near the end of the miniseries. –Aharon Varady

The evening service for entering Shabbat and Yom Tov as is the custom of Kehillat Kol Haneshama in south Jerusalem, Israel.

First published in 2006, סִידּוּר לִימּוּד Siddúr Limmúd, vol. 1: Friday night is a traditional-egalitarian, multilingual Hebrew-English-Spanish Friday night “Learning Siddur” with transliterations, translations, instructions and explanations by the Norwegian-Jewish scholar, Olve Utne, ז״ל‎ (1965–2024). This edition contains Olve’s last edits, made a month before his passing.

סידור אבי חי תפילות וברכות לבית ולמשפחה is a comprehensive nusaḥ Sefaradi birkon containing liturgy for family celebrations (and for domestic use in general), published on behalf of the Avi Chai Foundation in 1999

סידור אבי חי ליום השבת is a nusaḥ Sefaradi siddur containing liturgy for Shabbat published on behalf of the Avi Chai Foundation in 1999. A lucid commentary by Dr. Avigdor Shinan supplements the liturgy.

A Friday night siddur in Hebrew with German translation produced by the first egalitarian German speaking minyan and Rosh Ḥodesh group in Berlin between 1995 and 1998. “Gut Schabbes,” a project for an equal Ḳabbalat Shabbat at home, was supported by a grant from the ZURÜCKGEBEN Foundation[foot]Zurückgeben = „Giving Back“[/foot] in 1995.

The following is a color-coded analysis of the Shabbat morning liturgy of second generation Reconstructionist Judaism (as witnessed in the Siddur Kol Haneshama: Shabbat v’Ḥagim, Reconstructionist Press, 1994) as compared with the traditional Nusaḥ Ashkenaz (minhag Polin).

Tu biShvat, the 15th of the month of Shevat, was designated by the Talmud as the New Year for the Trees. It was tax time for HaShem, a time of tithing for the poor. This tithing has its origin in the following Torah verse: “Every year, you shall set aside a tenth part of the yield, so that you may learn to revere your God forever.” The Kabbalists of 17th century Safed developed the model of tikkun olam that we embrace today — healing the world by gathering the scattered holy sparks. To encourage the Divine flow — shefa — and to effect Tikkun Olam, the Kabbalists of Safed (16th century) created a Tu biShvat seder loosely modeled after the Passover seder. In recent decades we have learned how the well being of trees is intimately connected to the well being of all creation. This relationship is clearly stated in the following Midrash: “If not for the trees, human life could not exist.” (Midrsh Sifre to Deut. 20:19) Today the stakes of environmental stewardship have become very high. Tu biShvat calls upon us to cry out against the enormity of destruction and degradation being inflicted upon God’s world. This degradation includes global warming, massive deforestation, the extinction of species, poisonous deposits of toxic chemicals and nuclear wastes, and exponential population growth. We are also deeply concerned that the poor suffer disproportionately from environmental degradation. Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote: “[Human beings have] indeed become primarily tool-making animal[s], and the world is now a gigantic tool box for the satisfaction of [their] needs…”

The unabridged edition of the Tu biShvat seder haggadah, The Trees are Davvening.

A Tu Bishvat seder haggadah by Ellen Bernstein (1988, revised: 2017)

מַחֲזוֹר לְראֹשׁ השנה Majzor leRosh Hashanah (1976) is the first edition of a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish nusaḥ Sefaradi Rosh haShanah prayerbook compiled and translated by Rabbi Meir Matsliaḥ Melamed (1920-1989). Rabbi Melamed had in 1971 been installed at the pulpit of the Cuban Sephardic Hebrew Congregation, after having served previously in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where his 1966 Hebrew-Portuguese siddur Tefilat Masliaḥ was first published. For both prayerbooks, as no Hebrew type with vocalization and cantillation marks was available to Rabbi Melamed, liturgy was reproduced from images of older siddurim. Rabbi Melamed’s translation appears to the sides of these images and his commentary underneath.

This is the first edition of סִדּוּר תְּפִלַּת מַצְלִיחַ Sidur Tefillat Masliah (Libro de Oraciones) (1974), a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish nusaḥ Sefaradi prayerbook compiled and translated by Rabbi Meir Matsliaḥ Melamed (1920-1989). As no Hebrew type with vocalization and cantillation marks was available to printers in Brazil, where Rabbi Matsliaḥ first began compiling prayerbooks, he developed a process of reproducing the liturgy from images of older siddurim and, occasionally, typewritten text. Rabbi Melamed’s translation appears to the sides of these images and his commentary underneath. This Spanish edition was preceded by a bilingual Hebrew-Portuguese edition published in Brazil in 1966.

הסדור המצוין Ha-siddur ha-Metsuyan, a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for most days in the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, was compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld between 1969 and 1973. The siddur contains an abundance of textual references appearing as sidenotes to the translation.

הַגָּדָה שֶׁל פֶּסַח Hagada de Pesaj (1973) is the first edition of a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish nusaḥ Sefaradi Passover haggadah compiled and translated by Rabbi Meir Matsliaḥ Melamed (1920-1989). Rabbi Melamed had in 1971 been installed at the pulpit of the Cuban Sephardic Hebrew Congregation, after having served previously in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where his 1966 Hebrew-Portuguese siddur Tefilat Masliaḥ was first published. For that prayerbook, as with this haggadah, no Hebrew type with vocalization and cantillation marks was available to Rabbi Melamed, so liturgy was reproduced from images of older authoritative works. Rabbi Melamed’s translation appears to the sides of these images and his commentary underneath.

מחזור ליום כיפור Majzor para Iom Kipur (1969) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for Rosh haShanah compiled and translated by Rabbi Mordechai Edery (1928-2010) and published by the World Council of [Conservative/Masorti] Synagogues under the supervision of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (1930-1993). The Hebrew sourcetext is based primarily on the S&P siddurim compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool. Other prayerbooks prepared with the Conservative movement represented mainly the Ashkenazi liturgical tradition. This maḥzor and its companion volume for Rosh haShanah are the only prayerbooks prepared for Sefaradi congregations by Conservative movement institutions (that we know of).

מַחֲזוֹר לְיוֹם כִּפּוּר Majzor leYom Kipur (Mexico: 1972) is the second edition of a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish nusaḥ Sefaradi Yom Kippur prayerbook compiled and translated by Rabbi Meir Matsliaḥ Melamed (1920-1989), first published in 1968. (This “second edition” appears to be more of a “second printing” than an update or revision of the first edition.) As no Hebrew type with vocalization and cantillation marks was available to Rabbi Melamed at the time, liturgy was reproduced from images of older siddurim. Rabbi Melamed’s translation appears to the sides of these images and his commentary underneath.

מחזור לראש השנה Majzor para Rosh haShanah (1968) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for Rosh haShanah compiled and translated by Rabbi Marcos Edery z”l, and published by the World Council of [Conservative/Masorti] Synagogues under the supervision of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (1930-1993). Earlier prayerbooks represented the Ashkenazi liturgical tradition. Together with its companion volume for Yom Kippur, they are the only prayerbooks prepared for Sepharadi congreations in the Conservative movement. The Hebrew sourcetext is based primarily on the S&P siddurim compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. Savid de Sola Pool. Besides the liturgy (in the Sefaradi nusaḥ), the prayerbook is prefaced by Seliḥot and includes essays concerning prayer by 20th century scholars in Spanish translation.

מחזור לראש השנה ויום כיפור Majzor para Rosh haShanah y Yom Kipur (1967) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for the Yamim Noraïm compiled and translated by Rabbi Marcos Edery z”l, and published by the World Council of [Conservative/Masorti] Synagogues under the supervision of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (1930-1993). Rabbi Reubén Nisembom (1938-2023), then a student at the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, proofread the maḥzor. Besides the liturgy (in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ), the prayerbook is prefaced by Seliḥot and includes essays concerning prayer by 20th century scholars in Spanish translation, such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Buber.

מחזור לשמיני עצרת ושמחת תורה Prayerbook for the Festivals [of Shemini Atseret and Simḥat Torah] is volume 9 in a set of maḥzorim reprinting Wolf Heidenheim’s arrangement of liturgy according to the Ashkenazi custom, accompanied by an English translation by Jenny Marmorstein, z”l (1920-2020).

This is the first edition of Sidur Tefillat Matsliaḥ (1966), a bilingual Hebrew-Portugues nusaḥ Sefaradi prayerbook compiled and translated by Rabbi Meir Matsliaḥ Melamed (1920-1989).

This prayer-leaflet was primarily intended for a group of Hebrew Union College students who met every sabbath afternoon for extra-curricular (noncredit) Torah study with Rabbi Dr. Jakob Petuchowki in the mid-1960s. Their service was conducted entirely in Hebrew and in the traditional nusaḥ with some minor but interesting Liberal innovations. Petuchowki writes, “We have omitted only the various repetitions as well as the prayer for the restoration of the sacrificial service. (But we have retained the place of Zion as the symbol of the messianic hope.) In the ‘Alenu prayer, we have preferred a positive formulation of the “Election of Israel” to the traditional negative one.”

סדור לחול לשבת וליום טוב Ritual de Oraciones para Todo el Año (1965) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for the entire year compiled and translated by Rabbi Marcos Edery z”l, and published by the World Council of [Conservative] Synagogues. Besides the liturgy of the siddur, this prayerbook includes essays concerning prayer by 20th century scholars in Spanish translation, such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Israel Abrahams.

תפלת ערבית לשבת ולשלש רגלים Ritual de Oraciones para Servicios Vespertinos Sabaticos y Festividades (1963) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for Shabbat and Festival evenings compiled and translated by Marcos Edery and published by the World Council of Synagogues for Latin America.

סידור שלם לכל תפלות השבת Volledige Sidoer vir die Sabbat (1952) was prepared by Rabbi Dr. Moses Romm (1897-1976) and presents the first ever translation of Jewish liturgy into Afrikaans (as far as we know).

A bilingual, nusaḥ Sefaradi, Hebrew-Bulgarian prayerbook compiled by Rabbi Daniel Solomon Ẓion (1883-1979) in 1946 after being appointed chief rabbi of Sofia, and before his 1949 immigration to the then new State of Israel.

Thank you to Nili Simhai and Yosh Schulman for sharing the Farsi (Persian) Nusaḥ of this punful minhag — the order of reciting kavvanot (intentions) for the New Year. Profound thanks are also due to Rabbi Simcha Daniel Burstyn of Kibbutz Lotan for his translation. Please help the Open Siddur Project by helping to translate and transcribe all of the Hebrew and Farsi in this seder. Sol’e nu Mobarak! سال نو مبارک — L’shanah Tova!

A Friday night siddur compiled by two Conservative movement rabbis for use in traditional leaning congregations familiar with Reform movement arrangements. Besides containing four alternative services for Friday nights, the prayerbook also contains extensive musical notation for congregational participation in singing liturgical melodies and hymns.

An abridged prayer book for Jewish personnel in the service of the British armed forces in 1940, prepared by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, based upon the 1917 prayer book offered during the first World War.

This is the bilingual Hebrew-Croatian, nusaḥ Ashkenaz kol-bo (everyday) siddur of Rabbi Dr. Šalom Miroslav Freiberger, z”l (1903-1943): סדור רנה ותפלה Molitvenik (1938).

Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue, compiled by Basil Lucas Quixano Henriques in 1929, contains services for Shabbat, Rosh haShanah (with readings), and a selection of teḥinot (“special prayers for private worship) and hymns (“anthems”).

A literary and historical commentary on the Jewish liturgy corresponding to the pages of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire (1890).

A German translation of the Birkat haMazon prepared by Franz Rosenzweig.

Join us in creating a faithful digital transcription of the Siddur Farḥi (Hillel Farḥi, 1917), a nusaḥ sepharadi, minhag Egypt siddur.

After transcription and proofreading, this new digital edition will be shared under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) Public Domain dedication. The edition will then be encoded in TEI XML and archived in the Open Siddur database, a libre Open Access liturgy database.

We are grateful to Alain Farḥi for imaging this Public Domain work and providing a digital copy for this effort.

Modlitwy Na Dni Świąteczne (Prayers for the Holidays) is a bilingual Hebrew-Polish set of maḥzorim (festival prayer books) re-printed in 1963 by “Sinai” Publishing (Tel-Aviv) from the 1912 edition compiled by Rabbi Bernard Dov Hausner (1874-1938). This is the maḥzor for Rosh Hashanah.