Logo for the Open Siddur Project, by Aharon Varady (2009)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady

Shared on:

24 March 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Development, Art & Craft

Tags:

arts & craft movement, Keter, Wheel, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., סנדלפון Sandalfon, ofanim

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This is the Open Siddur Project logo, with twelve delineated colors representing the twelve shevatim (tribes) and mazalot (constellations) — a reference to the diversity of the remnant of the Israelite people and the international Jewish community in its expressions of prayer. The spectrum of colors evokes the divine canopy of peace protecting the earth after the covenant with Noaḥ that humanity never let itself become as depraved as the predatory dor hamabul (generation of the flood). The colorwheel itself is derived from Johannes Itten’s Farbkreis (“color wheel” 1961) and is a nod to both the Arts & Crafts movement of William Morris and its development by the Bauhaus movement in Weimar Germany.

The circle here is a reference to the form of Sandalfon, the angel of prayer, who daily weaves the prayers of the world into a wreath crown that is delivered to Hashem during the Qedushah.^[1] Chagigah 13b.4. Also find Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green’s Keter: The Crown of God in Early Jewish Mysticism (1997). As the Latin letter ‘O’, the circle also stands for the word ‘Open’ in connection to the open-source principle and licensing framework undergirding this project, and in reciprocity to the divine project of giving through the renewal of creation in every moment (per Psalms 145:16).

The Hebrew letters forming the word סידוּר (siddur, an arrangement of prayers, i.e. a prayerbook) appear inside the circle. The text appears here and elsewhere with various styles of Hebrew typography. In the reference image below, the type is sourced from the Times New Roman digital font.

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Chagigah 13b.4. Also find Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green’s Keter: The Crown of God in Early Jewish Mysticism (1997).

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“Logo for the Open Siddur Project, by Aharon Varady (2009)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Aharon N. Varady

Aharon Varady is the founding director of the Open Siddur Project. A community planner (M.C.P, DAAP/University of Cincinnati.) and Jewish educator (M.A.J.Ed., the William Davidson School of Education), his work in open-source Judaism has been written about in the Yiddish Forverts, the Atlantic Magazine, Tablet, and Haaretz. If you find any egregious mistakes in his work, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also transcribes and translates prayers, besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project.)

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Works of related interest:

An interview with Aharon Varady on Open Source Judaism (Radio613, 2010)

Siddur Livnat HaSapir L'Kabbalat Shabbat - cover art

📖 סדור לבנת הספיר לקבלת שבת | Siddur Livnat HaSapir l’Ḳabbalat Shabbat, a Friday Night prayerbook arranged by Aharon Varady (2017)

🗍 חנוכה מדריך | A Ḥanukkah Madrikh, by Noam Lerman & Aharon Varady (2011)

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a still frame (01:02:54) of the everyday evening Fourth of July Parade and Picnic in Topeka Downunder from the film adaptation of Harlan Ellison's post-apocalyptic tale: A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)

עַל הַנִּסִּים בִּימֵי הוֹדָיָה לְאֻמִּיִּים | Al haNissim prayer on Civic Days of Patriotic Gratitude, by Aharon Varady

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Prayer on Beginning a New Journal, by Aharon N. Varady

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מִדְבָּר קװעסט | Midbar Quest, a tabletop fantasy adventury roleplaying activity by Aharon Varady

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Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=43409

Associated Image:

Organizational logo for the Open Siddur Project (Aharon Varady CC BY-SA 2009) after the color wheel (farbkeis) of Johannes Itten (1961)

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Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17